The Eighth Deadly Sin
by the-Mad-Majesty-of-Muchness
Summary: On the mainland, Shilo and Graverobber have a chance to start over. But that might be easier said than done, especially given that they're staying with his older sister. Throw his highly eccentric uncle into the mix, and Shilo starts to worry that Graverobber might just end up having a mental breakdown from all the sudden family drama. Sequel to Scattered Wrecks.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Okay, so here's that sequel to Scattered Wrecks that I promised! Wow, I can't believe I'm getting this out on the same night that its predecessor ended, that's a first for me. **

**ANYWAY, this first chapter is kind of short, it just kind of sets things up for us to give an idea of what's going to be happening and where they are in relation to when the epilogue of Scattered Wrecks left off, and where they're going now. Also, Graverobber commits a bit of a felony at the end, but then again, that's just Graves for ya. XD**

**Also, the title for this one comes from the same place that the title for the last one did, which is the book _Revolution _by Jennifer Donnelly. This story's title comes from the following quote: **"It's another sin. Worse than all the other ones, which are immediate, violent and hot...It's the eighth deadly sin. The one God left out, Hope."

**Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since twenty minutes ago when I posted the epilogue of Scattered Wrecks. I still own absolutely nothing. Except Natalie and her kids, I own them. So...I sort of lied, I do own something lol. **

* * *

Shilo took Graverobber's hand as she stepped off the boat. It had dropped them in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and Graverobber had told her that he had a specific destination in mind for them, though he wouldn't say where, insisting that they wait until they were off the boat before he tell her, and she had decided to humor him. Graverobber thanked the captain of the boat, then took Shilo's hand and led her away from the harbor and down the street.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.  
"We're gonna go visit my sister," he replied.  
"You mean Natalie? But I thought you said she dropped off the face of the planet after your mom's funeral."

"Okay, so that might not have been entirely true. She disappeared after the funeral, and a few months later, she contacted me to tell me she was on the mainland, and she was sorry for abandoning us, but she just couldn't stay on the island anymore, she had to get away, escape it all. We've had on-and-off contact through the years. Her husband had something Repo'd a few years ago, and so now it's just her and her kids. Kyle's ten and Rosella...She would have turned six just last month. They live in a beach town a few hours down the shoreline from here called Cape Fear."

"Well that sounds like a pleasant place to live," Shilo remarked dryly.  
He laughed. "I know, doesn't it just?" he said.

"So how do you plan on getting us there?" she asked.  
"Why, we're going to drive, of course," he said, flashing his wicked grin at her.  
Shilo frowned in confusion. "But...we don't have a car. Where exactly are we going to get one on such short notice?"

"Honestly, Shilo, you should know me better by now!" he exclaimed, then looked around before leaning in to whisper in her ear. "I know how to hotwire. We're just gonna find one, throw our stuff in, and take off."

"But that's stealing," she whispered back.  
"Not if we're rescuing it from impoundment."

"You just have this all figured out, don't you?"  
"What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I couldn't even take care of my girlfriend?" he asked, and then gave her a quick peck on the lips before taking her by the hand as they kept on down the street.

"Oh, and by the way," he said after a few minutes, and pulled something out of his pocket, flashing a grin as he showed it to her. "I grabbed my cell phone as we were leaving, so we can still talk to everyone back home any time we want. Actually, you know what, hang on, I'm going to call Nattie and let her know we're coming her way."

He punched in a phone number, then put it to his ear and waited. After a moment, the answering machine picked up and told him to leave a message.

"Yo, Nat, it's Allan," he said. "Just wanted to let you know that due to a series of rather complicated events that I will explain to you at a later date, my girlfriend and I have been kicked off Sanitarium Island, in a manner of speaking, and we are as of this moment, on the mainland. We're in Cape Hatteras, we're planning on coming to you, and I just wanted to give you a heads up so you don't die of shock when we show up on your doorstep in a few hours. Anyway, tell the kids they're finally gonna get to meet their kickass uncle, and I will see you soon. Bye."

He hit the end button, then looked at Shilo. "What are you giggling over there for?" he asked.  
"'Tell the kids they're finally gonna get to meet their kickass uncle?' Really?" she said.

"Well, I've never met them, and since I am, after all, the King of Kickass..."

"You're an idiot, you know that?"  
"Yes, but I'm an idiot that you love."

"For some unfathomable reason."  
"Your dad would kill us both for it. It'd be kind of...Romeo and Juliet-ish."  
"Oh my God, you realize that it lasted like three days and about six people died, right?"

He shrugged. "Shakespeare's not my area of expertise, it's Jem's, remember?" he said simply.

When they reached the impoundment lot (which was found after about thirty minutes of wandering around, getting lost, and following directions that Graverobber had gotten from a lady in a grocery store parking lot), Graverobber told Shilo to wait for him on the outside, then proceeded to climb over the fence. Once he was inside, he found an old pickup truck that didn't look it was going to be claimed any time soon and, upon finding that it wasn't locked, climbed into the cab and began working his magic.

After ten minutes of standing outside the fence and nervously looking around, worrying she'd be caught and told to leave, Shilo heard the sound of an engine on the other side of the fence, and a moment later, the pickup came crashing through the gate. Graverobber rolled down the window. "Quick, grab the bags and throw 'em in the bed, then hop in!" he said, and she quickly obeyed.

"Buckle up, kid," he said as she climbed into the passenger seat, "it's gonna be one helluva ride."

* * *

**So there ya have it! I wonder what Nattie will be like? Oh, wait, no I don't, I already know, I'm the author. THE REST OF YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND FIND OUT, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next chapter! It's not quite as long as I would've liked for it to be, but I guess it'll do for now. :/ And I swear to God, I was writing this one, and it got to a point where I had to start using "Uncle Allan" to refer to Graverobber, and it was like THE weirdest thing for me to type those words, it was just like, "uh...did I seriously just write that?" I didn't have much of a choice, though, because, you know, that's who he is to Natalie's kids, he's their Uncle Allan, so...*shrugs* **

**And it was very bizarre writing his interactions with the kids, also, because, you know, it's Graves, and it's kind of hard to imagine him with kids, but then these are his sister's kids, so working with that, I had to assume that he's had indirect interactions with them in the past (i.e. sending stuff to them on birthdays, etc.) even though he's never actually met them, and given that assumption along with them being related to him, I also had to assume that interacting with them would come to him more naturally than it would if they were anyone else's kids, so even though it was bizarre for me to write it, I'm actually pretty satisfied with the end result, though it's probably going to be a bit strange for you guys to read, maybe make you feel somewhat awkward like it did to me when I wrote it. Just wanted to give you a heads up.**

**I DISCLAIM!**

* * *

"You look so sexy in that top," Graverobber said. Shilo had been looking out the window of the truck, but when he said this, she turned her head to look at him. She grinned.

"That's what you said about the pinstriped corset thing, too," she replied.  
He flashed that wicked smile of his and chuckled darkly. "What I wouldn't give to rip that thing off you one day," he remarked. Glancing over at her, he added almost as an afterthought, "Hell, I'd love to rip that one off, too. What is that, anyway? Like a...waistcoat-slash-tank-top hyrbrid or something?"

"Or something," she said with a smirk. "You realize it's made entirely of lace, right? I have to wear something under it, too."  
"I wouldn't complain if you, say, 'forgot' to put something under it one day," he said with false nonchalance, and she laughed.

They were silent for a few minutes, and then Graverobber laughed loudly, making Shilo jump a bit in surprise. "What's so funny?" she asked.  
"I just realized," he said, "you're wearing Natalie's old jacket. I mean, I realize that I pulled it out of the attic and gave it to you, but it just suddenly dawned on me that we're headed to see her and you're wearing her jacket, and I can't help but wonder what she'll think when she sees it on you."

"How much longer until we get there?"  
"Not long. We just passed a sign a few minutes ago that said Cape Fear is five miles."  
"I don't understand what the hell made her think that it was a good idea to settle in a place called Cape Fear, of all things."  
"She's got the same messed up mentality as the rest of my clan, that's what it is," Graverobber said dryly, and Shilo cracked up.

"God, I can't believe you just referred to it as your 'clan!'" she exclaimed. Before Graverobber could reply, his cell phone rang from where it was sitting on the dashboard. He picked it up and looked at the caller ID, then hit accept before pressing something else.

"Yo, Nattie, you're on speaker, bitch!" he said, setting the phone back down on the dash.

_"Allan, I swear to God, if you use that language around my children, I will strangle you in your sleep," _a female voice replied. _"Now, what's this nonsense about you and your girlfriend getting kicked off Sanitarium? How the hell do you manage to get kicked off an entire island?! I mean, I know this is you that we're talking about here, but I didn't think that even you were capable of doing something to warrant that sort of thing! What did you do, who did it piss off, and what in the name of heaven, hell, and all that is holy made you think it was a good idea in the first place? And how close are you, how long until you get here?"_

"Slow down there, cowgirl, one thing at a time," he replied. "First of all, since I've got you on speaker, Shilo, say hello to my sister."

"Um...hi," Shilo said uncertainly.

_"Hello there," _Natalie said. _"I'm assuming you're the girlfriend. I look forward to meeting you in person when you get here. Now, back to the subject at hand. Terrance, answer me right now, or I'll shank you as soon as you get here, you got that? Start talking!"_

"Okay, so first of all, we're not really getting kicked off, it's just...Look, it's complicated, alright, we'll explain when we get there. Secondly, I didn't actually _do _anything, Amber just had it out for us both because she's a spoiled rich bitch. And we're about five—No, wait, make that four miles out of town. We're coming down the coast from the north in an old red pickup, so when you see one pull up in the driveway, don't get a gun out or anything, it's just us. Hey, how are the kids, did Ro get the card I sent for her birthday?"

_"They're fine, and yes, she did. Along with the hundred dollars you put in it. Honestly, Allan, what were you thinking, giving a six-year-old that much money?! You know what she did? She spent most of it on candy! If I get told next time I take them to the dentist that she has a cavity, it is going to be _your fault,_ do you understand me? YOURS! Oh, and by the way, thank you _so _much for telling us you're coming when you did, now that they know you're on your way, neither one of them will go to bed until after they've gotten to meet you, and in case you weren't already aware, it is nearly ELEVEN O'CLOCK IN THE P.M.! Do you have _any _idea how long ago they should have been asleep?! They've got school tomorrow! They're going to be _exhausted!"

"Oh, sure, just blame everything on me, why not!" Graverobber half-shouted. "You did it all the time growing up, so why the hell should things be any different now that we're adults?! Look, can't we do this another time? I haven't had any coffee in almost a full twenty-four hours, I can't deal with you and your bullshit right now. We're about two miles out of town, so we'll be there in like twenty minutes, alright, just...tell the kids to go ahead and start getting ready for bed, that way they'll be all set by the time we get there, then they'll just be able to go straight to bed after they've met me, alright? I'll see you soon, goodbye."

And with that, he hung up, cutting Natalie off as she tried to protest.

Shilo stared at him. He shook his head at her.

"What?" he asked.  
"Is this what it was like between you two growing up?"  
"Worse, kid. Much, much worse."

* * *

It was a big step down from the cab of the truck to the ground, so Graverobber got out and went around to the passenger side to help Shilo down before going and getting their duffle bags out of the bed. He put his arm around her and they started heading for the front door. She put an arm up to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness when the porch lights came on. There was the sound of a screen door opening and slamming shut, and a female figure appeared on the porch.

"Baby brother!" a voice said with sarcastic enthusiasm, and the figure came to meet them halfway. As she came forward away from the lights, Shilo was able to see the woman more clearly. She looked around thirty-something, with beautiful sea green eyes and hair the same shade of brown as Graverobber's that was down to just above her shoulders and flipped outwards on the end and pulled away from her face in the same manner that Graverobber usually wore his hair. She was dressed in an oversized gray sweater and jeans with a hole in one of the knees, and when she came to a directly in front of Graverobber, she put her hands on her hips and looked him up and down.

"You've grown considerably," she commented. "I have to say, I don't remember your shoulders being quite so broad, and your hair was definitely not that long or that colorful last time I saw you. You've also gotten taller, haven't you?"

"Five-foot-eight last time, six-foot now," he said matter-of-factly.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, then a smile broke out onto the woman's face. "Oh, who am I kidding," she said. "You look great, Allan, come here and give me a hug."

He grinned and set his bag down, then embraced her tightly and let her do the same to him. "Oh, God, it's been so long," she said. "Seven years, I can't believe it's been seven years! My baby brother's all grown up now! What about Nicky, how's he?"

"He's doing great, he said to tell you hi."  
"And Jem, what about her?"

"She's part of a small acting troupe that performs once or twice a month in Sanitarium Square. They just did _As You Like It _recently, she was Rosalind. I caught the last part of the show, she was amazing, as always. Here, there's someone I want to introduce you to." He pulled back from the hug, putting his hands on Shilo's shoulders.

"Shi, this is my big sister Natalie," he said. "Nattie, this is my girlfriend Shilo, who Jem completely adored the ever-loving shit out of."

Natalie grinned and rolled her eyes fondly as she and Shilo shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Shilo," she said, and then frowned when she noticed something. "Wait a minute," she said, "is...is that—"

"Yeah, I kind of stole this old jacket of yours," Shilo said. "I needed new clothes, and he said that I looked like I'd fit into some of your old stuff, so he pulled this and some other stuff out of the attic, and I just loved the jacket so much that I ended up keeping it. I hope you don't mind."

Natalie shook her head. "No, not at all," she said, "I just wasn't sure if it was actually my old jacket or if I was imagining things. I'm guessing that he gave you the ring, also?"

"We were going through a box of stuff and I found it," Graverobber explained. "I thought that it would be better off worn by someone than going to waste sitting around buried under a bunch of junk in a cardboard box, and something about it said 'Shilo' to me, so I let her have it."

"Oh. Okay then. Um, I wasn't sure if you'd eaten, so I—"  
Natalie was cut off by the sound of the screen door opening. "Mom!" a voice called. "Mom, is Uncle Allan here yet?"

"Yes, Kyle!" Natalie called back. "Go back inside, we'll be there in a minute!"

"Rosella, he's here!" Kyle shouted, and the door slammed shut. Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose in a manner similar to the way Graverobber sometimes did when he was frustrated, then looked up at them with a tight-lipped smile.

"He gets so. Damn. Hyper. When he doesn't go to bed in time. We call it the tired sillies. He's been driving me absolutely crazy asking when you were going to get here. I swear, every five minutes, it's been, 'Mom, when's Uncle Allan gonna be here? When's Uncle Allan gonna be here? When's Uncle Allan gonna be here?' If you had taken just a minute longer, my head would have exploded."

"Then it's a good thing we're here, isn't it?" Graverobber said.  
"That is the understatement of the century," Natalie replied. "Come on. We'd better get inside before _his _head explodes from impatience."

Graverobber picked up both duffle bags, and they followed Natalie inside. The front door opened into a short hallway, which led into the living room, and the moment they stepped into it, there were two excited shouts (one of which was more like a shriek), and then two children came racing over. The first was a boy that looked a lot like a younger version of Graverobber, but with shorter hair that lacked the streaks of color, and the other was a little girl with curly hair that fell down to her shoulders and was a darker shade of brown than her brother's that reminded Shilo more of Nick's hair, and she had the same sea green eyes as Natalie. The boy, who was clearly the older of the two, was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts, and the girl, who had a plush toy clutched in one hand, was in a pink nightgown with purple butterflies printed on it.

Graverobber smiled, and he dropped the bags on the floor, kneeling down to be on the same level as the kids. "Hey, guys!" he said. "Let's see if I have this right. You're Kyle...and that means that you must be Rosella, right? I heard you had a birthday last month, is that true?"

"You sent me money!" Rosella said.  
"Did I? Oh, that's right, I did!"

"Who's she?" Kyle asked, pointing at Shilo.  
"That's my girlfriend," Graverobber said. "Her name is Shilo. Don't worry, she doesn't bite, I trained her not to."

Shilo raised an eyebrow at this. "He's lucky if I decide not to kick his ass for that later," she muttered to Natalie, who nodded and "mmhm'd" in agreement.

"Alright, guys," Natalie said, clapping her hands together, "you've met him, now it's time for bed."  
"But Mooooooom!" Kyle groaned. "He just got here! Can't we stay up just a little bit longer? Pleeeeeeaaaaaase?"

"No, absolutely not, you've been up long enough. You both have the tired sillies and you have school tomorrow. Uncle Allan will still be here in the morning, you'll see him then."

"Yeah," Graverobber said, "Shilo and I are gonna be here for at least a few days, so we'll have plenty of time together, I promise. Besides, your mom's right, if you don't get some sleep, you're not gonna be able to make it through the day tomorrow, and everything's gonna suck."

And so it was with great reluctance that both children followed their mother upstairs and let her tuck them in. Once they were both in bed, she came back downstairs and got out a box of wine. She offered some to Graverobber and Shilo, but they both declined, so she got some for herself, and then they all sat down in the living room, Natalie sighing heavily as she took a sip of her wine.

"Never have kids, Shilo," she said, "being a mother is the most exhausting job in the world. Okay. So you said you'd explain things when you got here, and here you are, so spill, both of you, now."

So from beginning to end, they told her the entire story, starting with their first meeting in the graveyard on the night of the Genetic Opera, all the way up to getting on the boat that had brought them to the mainland.

"Okay, wait," she said when they were finished, "so let me see if I understand this correctly. You're telling me that the two of you wouldn't even be together if it wasn't for a drunk night of sex that neither of you even remembers, is that it?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Graverobber said, and Shilo nodded.  
Natalie looked back and forth between them. "Well," she said finally, "I suppose that's one way to get an 'I love you' out of someone. But that _bitch! _My God, what stick is up her ass and why the hell couldn't she just pull it out instead of putting you through all that bullshit?"

"That's what we're saying!" Shilo said.  
"Like I said over the phone," Graverobber added, "she had it out for both of us. She'd been a thorn in my side almost ever since I met her. I'm glad to be rid of her, she's never been anything but trouble and a Zydrate addicted slut. _Damn _was I proud of Shilo when I heard her telling that bitch off in the alley that one night! My only regret is that I didn't get to see the look on Amber's face." He gently nudged Shilo. "Hey," he said, "you alright?"

She blinked and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah," she said, "just tired is all."  
"Here," Natalie said. She set her wine glass down and got up. "Follow me. I'll show you where the guest room is upstairs."

Graverobber and Shilo stood up, and he went to grab their bags, then they followed Natalie up the stairs. At the top, there was a hallway directly in front of them, and another one to their right, the two of them intersecting to form an L shape. She led them down the hallway that was in front of them, all the way down to the end where there was a window, then opened the last door on the left.

"Bathroom's through there," she said, pointing at a door on the other side of the room. "There's another door in there that opens into the closet. If you need me, my room is down the hall and just around the corner on the right. Shilo, I can tell you're exhausted, and I know that Allan here can barely function without coffee, which I recall he hasn't had in nearly twenty-four hours, so you guys sleep in for as long as you want. Sleep well, guys. See you tomorrow."

* * *

**...Told you it'd be strange to read. Anyway, yeah. I'm off to go and hunt for pictures and gifs of Terrance Zdunich and Alexa Vega that I can use for reactions on my Grilo tumblr blog! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so first of all, anyone who catches the reference to the Charlie the Unicorn videos gets points and a cookie, plus a free hit of Zydrate and a kiss on the cheek from Graves! (Okay, let me rephrase that; Straight females, gay males, and anyone bi or of any other orientation who wants it will get that. Straight males, gay females, and anyone bi or of any other orientation who wants it will get one from Shilo)**

**ANYWAY!**

**This one is pretty Aesop-heavy starting somewhere in the middle all the way to the end, and if you are familiar with the movies of Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki, you are in for a very pleasant surprise. Also, this chapter gives us our first trace of the family drama mentioned in the summary of the story, so there's also that to look forward to. :) Plus, I threw in a couple of references to Scattered Wrecks just for the heck of it. One's at the beginning around the same time as the Charlie the Unicorn reference, and the other is more in the middle, after the Aesop starts.**

**I DISCLAIM!**

* * *

Shilo woke to the feeling of sunlight on the back of her eyelids. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked several times to get the blurriness out of her vision. She reached behind herself and felt around for Graverobber, but her hand was met with nothing but bed. She turned over and found the other side of the bed empty with the sheets and blankets all messed up. She yawned and stretched as she sat up, then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before tossing the covers back and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, her bare feet coming down onto the hardwood floor.

She went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror to make sure her wig was straight before heading out into the hallway. She could hear Graverobber's familiar laughter intermingled with laughter that she assumed to be Natalie's, and she followed the sound downstairs and into the kitchen, where she found the two of them sitting at the table, Graverobber with a cup of coffee in his hands and a broad smile on his face. When he noticed her standing in the doorway, his smile widened.

"Hey, Bug!" he said. "We were just talking about you!"  
"Oh, yeah?" she asked. "What were you laughing about?"

"I was just telling Nattie about some of the more ridiculous hallucinations you had while you were going through withdrawals. Like the time I came in to ask if you were hungry, and you laughed as soon as you saw me and said something about how I was a talking fooglefish."

"Okay, you realize I was completely out of it most of the time and don't even remember over half of what I said when I was like that, don't you? And what the hell is a fooglefish?"

He shrugged. "Beats me, I'm just tellin' ya what I heard you say. And yes, I do realize that, but trust me, you said some seriously funny shit. One time you asked if I was the Mad Hatter, and I decided to humor you and say yes, and then you asked if that meant you were Alice, so I said that you didn't look blonde enough to me. Then you told me to help you catch the butterflies and that we had to follow them. 'Quick, Allan, before they get away!' First time you called me by my actual name."

"You two are so weird," Natalie said, shaking her head as she got up. "You want some breakfast, Shilo? All we really have is cereal, but you're welcome to it. There's Cheerios and Crunch Berries, and that's about it."

"Cheerios is fine," Shilo said. "I can get it myself, I don't mind."  
"Alright. Miraculously, there's still some coffee left if you want any."

"He _actually _left some for the rest of us? Wow, babe, I'm impressed."  
"Oh, ha ha," Graverobber said, "yeah, you're both just so funny, aren't you? And for your information, Natalie, Shilo doesn't drink coffee, she doesn't like the way it tastes. Her breakfast drink is orange juice."

Natalie opened the fridge and pulled out a big thing of orange juice, thunking it down on the counter and putting one hand on her hip. "Boom," she said, "orange juice. Ro refuses to drink anything but in the mornings, she won't even get dressed for school unless she's had at least two cups. There is _always _orange juice in this house. I constantly keep all kinds of things on hand because you never know what's going to be needed around here or when the need for it will arise. Do not doubt me and my superior Mom Powers."

"Speaking of, where are the kids?" Shilo asked as she poured the cereal into a bowl.  
"At school," Natalie said. "Oh, and by the way, Zack's coming, he'll be here tomorrow afternoon."

Graverobber nearly spit his coffee out.

"Zack?" he said once he'd managed to swallow. _"Uncle _Zack? As in our father's brother? _That _Zack?"  
"Yes," Natalie said, pouring some orange juice into a glass for Shilo and setting it down in front of her at the table. "Why is that so shocking?"  
"Because the man completely dropped out of existence when I was like five years old! How are you even in contact with him?!"

Natalie sighed heavily. "Not long after Kyle was born, this man came into town that nobody knew anything about, and there were all these rumors flying around, and then one day somebody randomly said, 'Hey, you know who he kind of looks like? Natalie Morrison!' And next thing Dylan and I know, this guy shows up on our doorstep wanting to talk to me, and as soon as I laid eyes on him, I went, 'Oh my God, it's Uncle Zack, what the hell?' And so he's just...Ever since then, he'll just surprise us with a visit every couple years or so. I don't know, his appearances tend to be kind of sporradic and unpredictable, given how eccentric he is. And that's only increased with age, believe me. God, you look just like him in the face, how am I only just now noticing that? And Kyle is an absolute clone of you when you were his age...Oh, good God, my son is going to grow up to be a third-generation clone of you and our uncle."

"That is completely irrelevant right now!" Graverobber said. "You...How could you let him just come waltzing back into your life after so long?! After what happened, the way he treated Dad, the way he just disappeared from our lives and never even sent so much as a single birthday card! He didn't even show up to Mom's funeral, let alone his own brother's!"

"He didn't even know they died!" Natalie snapped back. "He never got any kind of call or notification or anything, he had no idea until I told him! God, why is this such a big deal to you, anyway, what's with the sudden stick up your ass?!"

"I was five _fucking _years old, Natalie, I looked up to him, I practically worshipped the very ground on which the he walked, and then he just suddenly started treating my father like absolute shit for no justifiable reason, and then, with _no _warning whatsoever, he fucking vanishes from my life! Do have any idea how confusing and hurtful that was to me?! I was five! I got no warning, no explanation, he was just fucking _gone! _Poof! Up in smoke, like he'd never even existed! All the pictures that proved I hadn't just imagined him were...I don't even _know _what Mom and Dad did with them, all I know is Shilo found one in the same cardboard box where that ring was, and it was so painful for me that I just tore it up because I didn't know what else to do! I can't believe this. I can't—" Here, he slammed his hand down on the table as hard as he could. _"—__fucking _believe this!"

There were several beats of silence.

"Allan," Shilo said quietly, hesitantly sliding her hand across the table towards his. She softly touched the back of his hand with her fingertips, and he immediately yanked it away when their skin made contact. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes, his jaw tightening as he drew in a deep breath through his nostrils and let it out. Then, without any warning, he was on his feet and heading into the living room, and from there, outside, not even bothering to put on shoes.

Shilo glanced at Natalie, who pursed her lips as she watched her brother go, crossing her arms and lowering her eyes, muttering under her breath about how he was just as stubborn and self-centered as ever, or something like that. Shilo pushed her chair away from the table, and it scraped against the floor. Natalie didn't even look up as the younger girl rushed out of the room and followed Graverobber outside, still barefoot and in her nightgown. She stood on the porch and looked around for him, then saw him heading down the sidewalk with his head down and hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. She ran after him.

"Allan!" she called. "Come on, dude, don't be like that! God dammit, Terrance, turn around and look at me!"

He halted in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. "At least go back and put some clothes on if you're gonna follow me," he said, "it's too damn cold to be out here like that."

"I'm not going back until you do," she said stubbornly. "Dammit, Allan...You and me, we're a team. Partners-in-crime, remember? Lydia and Beetlejuice. I thought I was your best friend, not just your girlfriend."

"You are my best friend."  
"Then talk to me! That's what we're supposed to do, we're supposed to talk about stuff, help each other through this sort of thing. But dammit, you have to let me in! You have to open up so I know what to do!"

"There's nothing you can do," he said. "Zack's coming. That's the long and short of it. There's nothing either of us can do about it." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry," he said. "I...You're right, I shouldn't be pushing you away, I just...This is all so new to me, this whole...being open about my feelings. I've never really had anyone I could confide in before, I'm still getting used to it."

"What about Nick? You two never...?"  
"Nick is great, don't get me wrong, but he...Half or not, he's still my brother, and there are just certain things that you don't share with siblings. The reasons can vary, but there are some things that siblings just can't be trusted with. You, though, I trust. It's...It's just a question of getting myself into the habit of sharing it with you. But, you know, it's like they say—Habits are easily made, but not so easily broken." He paused and looked around, then shivered suddenly, rubbing his arms. "Seriously, aren't you cold? You're in a shortsleeve gown that only goes to your knees, how are you not freezing?"

"Who said I wasn't?" she replied. "But like I said, I'm not going back until you do." She took a step or two forward, extending her hand towards him. He looked at her, standing there on the sidewalk with the breeze lightly swirling her gown around her knees, the black and dark burgundy of her wig contrasting against her pale skin, dark eyes with an almost pleading look in them, the bare toes of one foot curling somewhat, and that painfully adorable crease between her eyes.

He sighed. "God," he said, "how can I say no when you look at me like that? Sometimes you scare me, Shi, you know that? You make me feel things I've never felt before, things I didn't even know I was capable of feeling. Do you have any idea how much that fucking terrifies me?"

"I know," she said, "you do the same thing to me, and it scares me, too. But you know what's even scarier? The thought of you not being a part of my life. That's why I need you to come back with me. So we can figure this out and get through it together. Besides, if you're not around, then who's going to teach me the rest of the Fables and call me kid?"

At that, he couldn't help but smile. "Nobody," he said, placing his hand in hers, "is allowed to call you kid unless they want a knuckle sandwich. You want fables? Then come on. I brought the book with me, it's in my bag. Let's go get it out."

They went back to the house, and Shilo went upstairs to change into some real clothes, and Graverobber told her he'd be up in a minute, then went into the kitchen, where Natalie was washing the breakfast dishes.

"Hey, Nat?" he said.  
"What?" she replied without looking at him.

"I just...I wanted to apologize. I was out of line, and I shouldn't have overreacted like that. I've always known that Zack must have had his reasons for doing what he did, but I just...you know how I am sometimes, I just can't control myself, my mouth gets ahead of my brain, and..." He sighed. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, and I'm sorry for acting the way I did, and I'm sorry I stormed off like that. I just...wanted to let you know. So...I guess I'll quit bugging you now. Shilo and I will be upstairs if you need us."

Having said this, he turned and left the room, heading upstairs and down the hall to his and Shilo's room, where he found her putting on a dark gray cardigan over an off-white shirt-dress. She turned and smiled at him when he came in, and he returned the smile before going to where his duffle bag was sitting and opening it up, pulling out the Aesop's Fables book. They climbed onto the bed and curled up together, and he opened the book to a random page, scanned over what was on it, then held the book against his chest so that Shilo couldn't see what was there.

"I take a lot of my beliefs in life from the morals of these stories," he said. "I've always tried to live by certain ones in particular as much as I can. This is one of the shorter ones, but its moral is something that I've always thought of as being true. It's called 'The Runaway Slave,' and it goes like this." He cleared his throat and began reading.

"'A Slave, being discontented with his lot, ran away from his Master. He was soon missed by the latter, who lost no time in mounting his horse and setting out in pursuit of the fugitive. He presently came up with him, and the Slave, in the hope of avoiding capture, slipped into a treadmill and hid himself there. _Aha, _said his master, _that's the very place for you, my man!' _And the moral is that you cannot escape your fate."

"I don't understand," Shilo said.  
"Which part don't you get?" Graverobber asked.

"What does it mean that he slipped into a treadmill?"  
"In a treadmill was originally like a...kind of like a hamster wheel. It harnessed either human or animal power to make machines work back before the technology existed to make machines work on their own. So it's talking about something like that. They were originally referred to as treadwheels, not treadmills."

"Oh, okay. Continue."

"Here's another moral that I've always believed. It's the reason that I think the Largos would've ruined...if not your life, then someone else's, regardless of how history had unfurled. This story is called 'The Wolf and the Lamb.' Here we go. 'A hungry Wolf one day saw a Lamb drinking at a strem below him and wished to find some excuse for eating her.'" Here, his voice dropped to the lowest octave it was capable of reaching as he read the Wolf's words.

_"'What do you mean by muddying the water I am going to drink? _said he fiercely to the Lamb. _Pray forgive me, _meekly answered the Lamb; _I should be sorry in any way to displease you, but as the stream runs from you towards me, you will see that I am not to blame.'" _Again, his voice dropped into its lowest octave. _"'That's all very well, _said the Wolf; _but you know you spoke ill of me behind my back a year ago. Nay, believe me, _replied the Lamb, _I was not then born. It must have been your brother, then, _growled the Wolf. _It cannot have been, for I never had any, _answered the Lamb. _I know it was one of your lot, _rejoined the Wolf, _so make no more idle excuses. _ He then seized the poor Lamb, carried her off the the woods, and ate her.'"

"That's a horrible ending!" Shilo cried.  
"Ah, but the moral, my dear," Graverobber replied, "is that the wicked always find an excuse for wrongdoing, especially wolves like Rotti Largo."

"What are some of the other morals you believe or live by or whatever?"  
"Kindness should merit kindness. Ingratitude is a crime. Trust not your security to one who puts his own interests first. They who act without sufficient thought will often fall into unsuspected danger. Men are but sorry witnesses to their own cause. He is not to be trusted as a friend who ill-treats those on whom he depends. Men are apt to condemn in others the very thing they themselves practice. In times of need, people reveal their true regard for others. And as a final example, one of my favorites, is that the courage of meeting death in an honorable cause is more commendable than any address or artifice we can use to evade it."

"Do I hear Aesop in here?" Natalie asked. She was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed. She flashed a small, brief smile. "I can't believe you still have that book," she said. "It must be falling apart at the seams by now."

"Surprisingly, it's not," Graverobber replied. Natalie flashed another brief smile, then bit her lower lip, looking down at the floor.

"Look, Allan," she said, "I...I'm sorry, too. I know that Zack's always been kind of a sore spot for you, and I should've told you he was coming sooner, but it didn't even occur to me because you showing up was just so unexpected, and I guess my brain just...it was a lot to process at once, you know? I just...I'm an idiot, that's what it is. Just like everyone in our family. I may have lost the Zatovich name when I married Dylan, but that doesn't make me any less of one. I've still got it in my DNA to be a complete and total Zatobitch. And another thing I'm sorry for? Treating you like shit when we were kids. I mean, yeah, sibling rivalry, but what I did went beyond that. And I'm sorry. For everything."

"Even the times you threw me headfirst down the stairs?"  
_"Especially _the times I threw you headfirst down the stairs."

"What about the times it was on purpose?"  
"Even more so for those ones, yes.

"She threw you down the stairs more than once?" Shilo asked.  
"I threw him down the stairs all the time," Natalie said. "Sometimes it was on accident, most of the time it was deliberate. I was an absolutely _horrible_ sister, he and Nick were constantly watching their own backs _and _each other's, not to mention sides, front, everywhere."

"Yeah, kid, when I started getting my first chest hair, she tried to convince me it was because I was turning into a sasquatch, and I ran to Nick absolutely terrified and asked him if it was true, and he absolutely tore into her about how she was fucking me up in the head way more than was necessary and did she actually _want _me to have a psychotic break and all this stuff."

"The look on your face _was _pretty priceless," Natalie commented. Seeing the look on her brother's face, she quickly changed the subject. "So, Shilo, you're eighteen? Is that what you said last night? You don't look it, you look so much younger."

"I know," Shilo said. "I...We're pretty sure that whatever my dad had me on stunted my growth. And we're also convinced that it's the reason I...Well..." She trailed off, blushing as she reached up and removed her wig, avoiding Natalie's eyes.

"...Oh," Natalie said. Shilo put her wig back on, still blushing and refusing to meet the older woman's eyes.

Graverobber put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Hey," he said, giving a gentle squeeze, "don't be embarrassed, Shi. It's nothing to be ashamed of, it's just the way you are. Besides, it's already starting to grow, and before you know it, you'll be able to stop wearing wigs. Either way, you're still real, still natural, and you remember what I said about that?"

"...It's what makes me special."  
"A wonder of nature in an artificial world."

"Aww," Natalie said. "Allan, I didn't know you had it in you to talk like that to a girl. That's so sweet."

Downstairs, the door opened and then banged shut. "Mooooom!" Kyle's voice called. "Mooooooom, I'm hungry!"  
"Hang on, Kyle, I'll be there in a minute!" Natalie shouted. She rolled her eyes. "It was a half day for both of them," she explained, "and they to and from school since it's only a few blocks away, so that's what's going on. He's been absolutely ravenous lately, I think he's getting ready to have a growth spurt."

"Moooooom!"  
"I'm coming!"

Graverobber threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, yeah, sure," Natalie said, "you laugh now, but just wait until you have kids of your own, then you won't find it so funny."

"Pfft! Not happening, sis," he said. "I've always been careful about that sort of thing, and Shilo and I haven't done anything since that first night, which doesn't even really count since we were drunk and don't remember anything from it. We're taking it slow, and when we do get to that point, guess what? There's such a thing as protection, and it exists for that precise reason. Trust me, there is nothing like that anywhere in my future, I certainly don't plan on it."

"Accidents happen, baby brother," she replied smoothly. "You ought to know that better than anyone in this room, seeing how you _were _one."

She turned on her heel and left the room, leaving her brother gaping and Shilo looking rather impressed.

They got up, leaving the book on the bed, and went downstairs, where they found Kyle and Rosella in front of the TV, each with a small plate of apple slices in front of them and a bowl of peanut butter to dip them in. Rosella had the same plush toy from last night sitting beside her facing the screen, as if it were also watching TV. Shilo looked at what was happening on the screen and something suddenly clicked in her head, which was that Rosella's toy looked like the big, wide-eyed...creature...that was standing beside two young girls in the rain wearing a large leaf on its head. The realization made her wonder what the kids were watching and what the creature was.

"Hey, guys," she said, wandering over and sitting down in a chair. "Whatchya watchin'?"  
"My Neighbor Totoro!" Rosella said. She pointed at the large creature. "See? That's Totoro, and that's Satsuki, and that's Mei."

"Yeah, and I see you've also got your own Totoro."  
"Mommy gave him to me for my birthday."

"Oh, is she showing you her Totoro?" Natalie asked as she came in from the kitchen. "She loves that thing, she carries it around with her everywhere she goes."

"What's that he's holding?" Graverobber asked when he noticed the little square brown thing tied up with yarn and hanging from the toy's hand—paw?

"That's his acorns," Kyle said. "See, Totoro's a nature spirit, and there's him, and his medium-sized friend, and his tiny friend, and they go around and plant acorns and help the trees grow, and they ride around on this magic spinny-top thing, and it makes the wind blow really hard, and there's a cat-bus with like—Oh, here it comes, here it comes, watch!"

Just as Kyle had said, a creature that was part cat and part bus with about ten or twelve legs came running up to the bus stop that Totoro and the two girls were standing at. Graverobber's eyebrows went up in a silent _um, wow _sort of expression. As they continued to watch, Totoro handed the older of the two girls a bundle similar to the one that Rosella's toy held, but made from what looked like some kind of leaf and tied with something else that neither Graverobber or Shilo could identify, then waved at them and got into the cat-bus, which meowed, then took off at an impossible speed, leaving the two girls standing there, the older one with the younger on her back and the bundle in her hand.

"So," Graverobber said after a minute, "what exactly is this, some kind of TV show, or...?"  
"It's a movie," Natalie said. "By this Japanese director that's no longer alive. The kids love his stuff, we've got a ton of it. This, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke. Tales from Earthsea, that one is..."

"Weird," the kids chorused.  
"We still need to get The Secret Life of Arietty," Rosella said.

"I think I saw Howl's Moving Castle once," Shilo said thoughtfully. "It was kind of dark, it wasn't really something I'd think to let kids watch."  
"How much of it did you see?" Natalie asked. Shilo had to think for a minute.

"I saw enough," she said finally, "and I've read the book, also. The book was just downright weird and kinda trippy."  
"I've read it, too," Natalie told her, "and I agree. The movie makes _so _much more sense, the book's got all these extra characters and scenes and stuff, and it was just all over the place, and I could barely keep up, and by the time I was about halfway through, I was saying to myself, 'Well, now I see why Miyazaki changed so much of it and chopped so much out when he made the movie, this hardly makes any sense at all!'"

Shilo glanced at Graverobber and frowned. "Dude, what is with that look on your face?" she asked. He was silent for a moment, and when he did speak, it was to his niece and nephew.

"Kyle, Ro," he said, "what do you know about Aesop's Fables?"  
"What's that?" Rosella asked. "Is that a movie?"  
"It sounds like a video game," Kyle added.

Graverobber slowly turned his head in his sister's direction with a dark look on his face. "You haven't. Introduced them. To Aesop?" he said, his voice hitting one of its lower octaves.

"Oh, you wanna talk about too dark for kids?" Natalie shot back. "Those stories are not at all fit for children, I don't know what our mother was thinking, reading those to us as bedtime stories, and don't even get me started on that _song!"_

"It's part of our family history, the song _and _the fables!" Graverobber yelled. "Good God, woman, are you or are you not a Zatovich?! I can't believe that Zack has let you get away with this for so long! You are depriving your children of an essential part of their heritage! What part of that is so difficult for you to comprehend?! There is no excuse for this, it needs to be fixed, right now! Shilo, go get the book!"

"Terrance Allan Zatovich, I swear to God—"  
"Run, Shilo, run like the wind, swift on your feet!"

With a broad smile on her face, Shilo leapt to her feet and sprinted upstairs, returning a moment later with the book clutched against her chest. "Turn that off!" Graverobber said loudly, and Kyle paused the movie. "Children, your mother has committed a most heinous crime—"

"What's 'heinous?'" Kyle asked.  
"It means horrible and unforgivable," Graverobber replied. "Now, as I was saying. Your mother has committed a most heinous crime! In fact, she has committed _the _most heinous crime that anyone in our family is capable of committing, and the traditional punishment for this crime is to be disowned, which basically means getting kicked out of the family, because that's how horrible this crime of hers is! What, you ask, _is_ this most heinous, villainous crime that she has dared to commit? She has failed to teach you a song called _In All My Dreams I Drown, _and not only that, but she has also failed to introduce you to the glory of Aesop's Fables, which means that she not only committed a crime, she committed a _double _crime, which is ten times worse than a regular crime! But worry not, for I, Uncle Allan, have come to save the day and correct these mistakes! Shilo, the book?"

She handed it to him, and he nodded. "Thank you," he said, and then held it up for the kids to see.

"I have here a book of the fables. This is the exact same book that your grandmother used to read the fables to your mother and I and our brother when we were children, and when your grandparents died, the book got left with me for safekeeping. Children! This book is more than just stories! It is morals, rules to live your lives by! And more importantly, it is also a very, very, very important part of your heritage! You both have Zatovich blood running in your veins, and therefore, even though your last name is Morrison, in my eyes, you qualify as Zatovich children, and no Zatovich is allowed to have an Aesop-less childhood! It is strictly forbidden!"

"Since when?!" Natalie demanded.  
"Since just now, now shut your face and let me fix your ultimate screw-up!"

"If you tell even _one _of those stories to my children, I swear to God, I'll—"  
"If you don't let me do this, then so help me God, Shilo and I _will _re-enact the argument we had in the kitchen the day after her birthday, and let me just tell you something, there was a _lot _of swearing in that conversation, including F-bombs. I kid you not, we will seriously do it, right here, right now. All I have to do is say the word, and she'll jump right in there, won't you, Shi? See? There is nothing I will not do to make this happen, Natalie. _Nothing. _Do not test me, and for the love of God, stop interrupting. Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, Kyle, Rosella, both of you pay very close attention here, this is important!

He opened the book and thumbed through the pages, stopping on a random one and smiling. "This is my favorite!" he said. "It's the first one I told to Shilo, it goes like this." He cleared his throat, though Shilo and Natalie both knew that he was only doing it for the added effect.

"Once, a Scorpion and a Frog met on the bank of a river. The Scorpion asked the Frog to carry him across, and the Frog asked, 'How do I know you won't sting me?' The Scorpion replied, 'Because if I do, we both shall die.' Satisfied with this, the Frog allows the Scorpion to climb onto her back. Halfway across the river, though, the Frog felt a prick, and knew she had been stung. Just as the paralysis began to set in, she gasped out, 'Why?' And just before they sink completely, the Scorpion replies, 'It is my nature.'"

There was a beat of silence.

"That," Kyle said finally. "Was. AWESOME! Mom, why haven't you told us any of these stories before?!"  
Natalie blinked. "I...I don't know, I just...I thought that—"

"What, that they'd be traumatized?" Graverobber interrupted. He rolled his eyes. "Pfft. Please, Nat, they're related to me and Nick, they were probably _born _screwed up in the head, ain't nothin' gonna traumatize them, let alone a something as harmless and low-key as Aesop. And as for you two, don't let her put either one of you in bed tonight unless and until she sings you a song called _In All My Dreams I Drown, _and Natalie, if you don't, then Shilo and I will, you got that?"

"Uh...Understood, yes."  
"Good. Now, let's see, which one should I tell them next...?"

* * *

**Okay, so Rosella's little plush Totoro that's holding the bundle of acorns? I actually have a plush Totoro like that, I got him for Christmas, and I absolutely love him, he's so cute, and when I first noticed that he was holding the acorn bundle, I got so excited, I thought it was just the most adorable thing that they had included that! We're big fans of Miyazaki's movies in my house, can you tell? And yes, that is my actual opinion on Howl's Moving Castle Book vs. Movie.**

**Okay, so that song by Hozier that they've been playing on the radio lately, "Take Me to Church," does anyone else hear the chorus and suddenly imagine Graves and Shilo jumping over things and landing in puddles and doing all this stuff, but it like looks all dramatic and stuff, or is that just me?**

**No, but like, I have an entire Grilo playlist on Spotify, and it's entirely comprised of songs that my brain has somehow managed to connect with either Shilo, Graverobber, both of them, and/or the way I view them as a couple and the dynamics I imagine going on in that relationship. I'm listening to it right now, in fact. **

**Anyone wanna know some of the songs on it?**

**(I'm half-kidding, but if anyone seriously does want to know some of the songs, I'll tell you.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so this chapter starts out with a little bit of fluff mixed with almost-kinda-sorta-not-quite sexy times along with a reference back to the first story (you'll recognize it right away, Torry), plus a line that is absolute CLASSIC Graverobber (trust me, you'll know it when you see it, and if you don't, then something's wrong with you), and we finally meet Zack.**

**The reason this chapter took longer to get published is because I was trying to lengthen it and draw it out, but it didn't really work out as I'd hoped it would. :/ Also, remember in Scattered Wrecks when Graves took Shilo to Amaranth's store to get new clothes? We have a bit of a reprise of that in this chapter. I also included some of my headcanons about what it's like on the mainland versus what it's like on Sanitarium Island, so yeah. Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read.**

**I DISCLAIM!**

* * *

Graverobber opened his eyes. For a moment, he just lay there while the gears in his brain slowly began to turn. Then he remembered what has happening later. "Oh..._fuuuuuuck," _he groaned, covering his face with his hands. Just then, something changed. It took a minute for his brain to figure out what, but then he realized that water had been running in the bathroom, and it had just been shut off. He turned his head and found Shilo's side of the bed empty. The bathroom door opened and she stepped out wrapped in a towel with her wig clutched in one hand along with some clothes, a bra, and panties.

"Mother fuck," he muttered, sitting up. She smiled as she came over and laid her clothes down on the bed, putting her wig on top of the bedpost. The towel was clinging to her damp body in all the right places, and it was very, _very _distracting for him. "God fucking dammit, Shilo, you're killing me over here."

"What's wrong, _Graverobber?"_ she said. "Does it bother you that I'm naked?" She quirked an eyebrow and smirked at him.

Oh, that little minx.

"You are never gonna let that go, are you?" he said. She gave him a coy smile and shook her head, then turned so her entire body was facing directly towards him and let the towel drop. He groaned and flopped backwards onto the mattress. After a moment, he felt it shift, and when he opened his eyes, she was directly above him with her wig on, grinning down at him like a Cheshire Cat.

"Revenge is a bitch, isn't it, babe?" she remarked. He used one elbow to push himself up, and with the way they were positioned, as he moved, Shilo was made to move, as well, until she was sitting on her knees beside his legs and he was sitting upright. He put his hands on her arms and looked at her, just letting his eyes wander up and down her naked body. There was a time, he knew, when she would have blushed crimson and tried to cover herself by crossing her arms over her chest to hide her breasts, but that time was past. Now, she sat there without a trace of red on her porcelain skin, and kept her hands resting on her legs, keeping her dark eyes trained on him the entire time.

"You have no idea how fucking sexy you are, do you?" he said, his voice husky. "If this is your way of telling me that you're ready to have sex, then your timing could not possibly be worse."

"And let's say that is what I'm doing," she said quietly. "Why is my timing so bad?"  
"Besides the fact that we're in my sister's house and both her kids are home?"

She smiled, then leaned in and kissed him. He cradled her face in his hand and moaned into the kiss, then broke it off suddenly and shook his head, his breath coming in heavy pants. "I can't," he said, "we have to stop, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to control myself with you naked. Put on some clothes, then we'll talk...Or...not, as the case may be."

They grinned at each other, and he planted a quick kiss on her cheek. "Seriously, get dressed and let's go get some breakfast, I'm starving." Shilo laughed as she got up and put her panties on.

"Is food all you think about?" she asked.  
"No, of course not!" he said. "I also think about you, sex, and how amazing it's going to be to have sex with you."

She threw her head back and cackled, and knowing that he'd been the cause of that joy she was experiencing made him smile as he pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "Hey, I'll meet you downstairs, alright?" he said. She nodded, then made a face as she reached around behind herself to do the hook on her bra. He went out of the room, closing the door behind himself to give her some privacy while she finished getting dressed. He got to the top of the stairs, and then came to a halt, one hand resting on the banister as his smile slowly faded.

Downstairs, he could hear Natalie talking to someone. Specifically, a man with a deep voice, as deep as his own sometimes got. It was a voice that he hadn't heard in years, and yet he would recognize it anywhere, and good _God, _the memories it brought back! He didn't know what to do. He was panicking. On the one hand, he wasn't ready for this yet, but on the other, he knew that if he didn't get it over with now, then it would only be that much more difficult later.

He turned and fled back down the hall.

When he opened the bedroom door, he nearly rammed into Shilo, who had been just about to open it herself. She gasped at his sudden appearance, too surprised to do anything except allow him to gently push her back and step into the room before closing the door. Then she noticed the panic on his face and the terrified look in his eyes.

"What happened, what's wrong?" she asked.  
He swallowed. "He's down there," he said.

"What do you mean, who's down there?"  
Before he could reply, there was a knock on the door, and it opened just enough for Natalie to poke her head in. "Hey," she said, "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep until noon again, but I guess not. Zack's here, he's excited to see you, Allan. Why don't you bring Shilo down and introduce her?"

Graverobber licked his lips. "Y-Yeah," he said. "Yeah, just...just give us a minute, we'll be right down."

"Okay. Hey, are you alright? You look a little pale."  
"What? Oh, yeah, no, I'm fine, I just...I had this dream that freaked me out, that's all."  
"Oh, okay. Don't take too long, alright? I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and if you don't hurry, Kyle's gonna eat everything."

"Sure. We'll be there in a minute."  
She smiled, then left them alone.

Graverobber released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, then went and sat down on the bed, covering his face with his hands. "I can't go down there," he said. "I can't. He's not supposed to be here! He wasn't supposed to get here until this afternoon, I don't...I'm not ready for this! I mean, what would I even say? I can't just waltz down there and say hi and act like it hasn't been fifteen Goddamn years since the last time I saw him, for Christ sakes!"

"Dammit, Allan, pull yourself together!" Shilo said, kneeling on the floor in front of him and putting a hand on his knee, the other one going to his shoulder. "Zydrate or no, on or off Sanitarium, you're still Graverobber, and you always will be to some extent, and the Graverobber I know would never let something like this intimidate him! It's been fifteen years—So what?! You're not a little kid anymore, and I know you well enough to say with absolute confidence that you can get through this! Are you, or are you not the same man that laughs in the face of danger and pisses off authority figures for amusement?"

He took a deep breath and let it out. "You're right," he said. "I'm being a wuss for no reason, I can do this."  
"Damn straight you can," she agreed. "And I'm gonna be right there with you the entire time. Now come on. Let's go get some pancakes."

She got up off the floor and held her hand out to him. He took it, and they left the room, going down the hall. When they got to the top of the stairs, a loud laugh could be heard on the first floor, and Graverobber's entire body tensed up. He turned to retreat back to the bedroom, but Shilo caught him by the elbow, and when he turned to look at her, she motioned downstairs with her head. "You can do this," she whispered. He closed his eyes and swallowed, taking a deep breath in through his nose and letting it out slowly, then heading down the stairs one step at a time, gripping the banister tightly with one hand.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairwell and tried to compose himself as best he could before he and Shilo went into the kitchen, where they could hear Kyle telling a story that was probably being way over-dramatized thanks to the fact that he was a ten-year-old boy. When they stepped into the room, Kyle cut himself off with a big grin. "Hi, Uncle Allan, hi, Shilo!" he said, and everyone looked in their direction. The man sitting at the table across from Kyle and Rosella had his back to the doorway, and when he turned around, Graverobber's breath got caught in his throat at the sight of him.

It was almost like looking into a mirror, but with about ten or fifteen extra years added on, and with hair only to the shoulders that lacked the streaks of color.

"There you guys are," Natalie said, "I was just about to go back upstairs and make sure you were alright and still planned on coming down here." Graverobber blinked, forcing himself to look at his sister.

"Yeah, sorry," he said, "I was helping Shilo find her necklace, she took it off to shower and forgot where she put it." He turned his attention back to the other man, who had stood up by that point. "Um...hi, Zack," he said.

"Allan," Zack said. "My God...Look at you, you're all grown up. How old are you now?"  
"Just turned twenty in July," Graverobber replied. Zack shook his head in disbelief.

"Fifteen years," he said, "has it really been that long?"  
"Well, I was five last time, and I'm twenty now, so, yeah, fifteen years sounds about right."

"I told you he grew up to be a sassmaster," Natalie said, then held up two plates with pancakes and bacon on them. "Allan, Shilo, I managed to save some food for you guys, I'd come and eat it before Kyle makes a move for it."

She put the food down on the table, and Graverobber and Shilo sat down to eat.

"So who is this with you?" Zack asked as he sat back down.  
"She's my girlfriend," Graverobber said, pushing some hair over his shoulder so syrup wouldn't get in it. "Her name's Shilo, I found her in a graveyard on Sanitarium Island."

"Yeah, you 'found' me," Shilo said, putting air quotes around the word. "No, what happened was that I was trying to catch a bug for my collection, and he was doing something he shouldn't have been doing, and there were GeneCops all over the place, so I had to hide behind a tombstone, and he decided that it was the perfect time to stand up and yell at the top of his lungs. He nearly got us both killed, he's lucky I even spoke to him the next time we ran into each other after pulling that little stunt."

"You know why I did it? Because I thought you were cute. I was trying to impress you."  
"You didn't even know my name, and you were already trying to flirt with me?"

"Every event has its reason, Shi," he said.  
"Oh, don't you quote Aesop to me about this!"

"How'd you even know that was Aesop?!"  
"I'm starting to make connections between the things you do with your voice and Aesop, there are certain pitches and things that you only use when you're either telling a fable or quoting one of the morals, even if you don't realize it."

"She's right," Natalie said as she joined everyone at the table. "I noticed the same thing yesterday when you were reading them to the kids."

"So you're still on Aesop even all this time later, are you?" Zack said.  
"I have the book," Graverobber replied. "Mom and Dad left it to me. It's upstairs, I brought it along when we left Sanitarium and came here."

"I like the one about the two guys and the donkey," Kyle said. "You know, the one where everyone thought they were doing it wrong?"  
"'The Miller, His Son, and Their A—'" Graverobber stopped short at the look on his sister's face. "Donkey," he finished. "The Miller, His Son, and Their Donkey. I swear, I was going to say donkey."

Natalie raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she took a bite of bacon.

"So what have you been doing with yourself, Allan?" Zack asked. Graverobber's chewing slowed as he exchanged glances with Shilo. How exactly did one go about explaining that they had been an illegal graverobber-slash-drug dealer in front of kids? He swallowed the food in his mouth and took a drink of his coffee.

"I, um...was doing...entrepreneurial...type...stuff," he said finally, "and Shilo was helping me out some."  
"Tell him why you left Sanitarium," Natalie said. Graverobber's eyes flickered over to her, and she grinned innocently, a spark of mischief in her sea green eyes.

"Personal reasons," Graverobber said, his tone indicating that he wasn't going to say anything other than that on the subject, at least for the time being. "And Natalie, I swear, if the next words out of your mouth are 'tell him how you got together,' then I will smother you with a pillow in your sleep tonight."

"Oh, well if that doesn't sound interesting," Zack said, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Graverobber shot Natalie a death glare, and she shrugged. "It's your own fault," she said. "You're the one that brought it up, not me." Graverobber pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath about older sisters being such a huge pain.

He looked up and turned to Zack. "I'll tell you later," he said in a low voice, "it involves some stuff that isn't exactly appropriate to say in front of the kids, and Nat will murder me if I say any of it in front of them."

Zack nodded in understanding, and for a moment, there was a slightly awkward silence.

"Um, Kyle," Natalie said finally, "didn't you have something you wanted to show Uncle Allan?"  
"Oh yeah!" Kyle said eagerly. "Hang on, I have to go get it from my room, I'll be right back!"

He got up and took off running. Rosella made a face. "I don't get boys, Mommy," she said, "how come they like icky things like bugs?"  
"Because boys are icky just like bugs, that's why," Natalie said.

"I'm guessing he's wanting to show me something to do with bugs?" Graverobber asked.  
"He seems to have inherited your affinity for all things cockroach," Natalie explained.

Graverobber nodded in approval. "Smart boy," he said. Kyle came running back in with a book clutched against his chest, skidding to a stop beside Graverobber's chair and holding it out.

"Mom said you like cockroaches," he said. "I think that roaches are the coolest thing in the whole world, and I wanted to show you my book about them. See?"

"You've got an entire book about cockroaches? Let me see that thing."  
"See, it's got a bunch of facts and pictures and stuff. Like, did you know that they can go for like a month without food?"

"Yeah, and they can survive on nothing but the glue on the back of a postage stamp. You know, I read that one time, way back when, there was this experiment where they put some roaches underwater for like half an hour, and then took 'em out, and the little guys were able to completely recover. Does this book explain how they survive without a head?"

"Their tracheae don't attach to the spiracles on their head," Kyle said. Graverobber held his hand up, and Kyle gave him a high five.

"Boy, you are makin' me proud," Graverobber said. "You know what I've got? A t-shirt with a cockroach on it, it says Cockroach Hall of Fame. It's my favorite shirt in the world, I wear it all the time."

"You'd have worn that thing in the graveyards if you could," Shilo said.  
"I get the impression he spent a lot of time in graveyards on Sanitarium?" Zack said.

Shilo laughed. "Oh, you have no idea!" she said.

"Are the Largos still on that island?"  
"Rotti finally kicked the bucket, but his devil spawn are still around," Graverobber said. "Amber took over the company. Sorry, you wouldn't know her as Amber, you left before she changed her name. You know her as Carmela Largo. These days, she's Amber Sweet, and she's addicted to the knife, not to mention Zydrate. Can't keep one appearance for more that a day or two at a time, and sometimes she changes the way she looks within just a matter of hours. In the meantime, Luigi grew up to be a stab-happy psycho with the world's worst temper, and Pavi...well..." He glanced at Kyle and Rosella, sending a silent message that Zack easily picked up on.

"I'm guessing it's not pretty?" he said.  
Graverobber shook his head.

"What's devil spawn?" Rosella asked.  
"Devil spawn is like..." Natalie began. "It..." She sighed. "Great, now look what you've done," she said to Graverobber.

"Would you have preferred that I call them rotten little B-blank-blank-T-A-R-D-S? Or that I refer to Amber as a spoiled rich B-blank-blank-blank-blank? Or perhaps you would have liked it better if I had used the phrase mother-F-U—"

"Okay, okay, that's enough, I get it!" Natalie said.  
"You can't keep them in the dark forever, Nattie," he replied. "They're gonna learn it all sooner or later, and if they were mine, I'd much rather them hear that sort of language at home from a family member or on TV than out on the streets or at school, because that way I'd at least be able to explain what it means and why they shouldn't go around repeating it to everyone. That's how we learned it, remember?"

"Yeah, because our father couldn't control his mouth when he was drunk, which was pretty much all the fricking time. And I'll thank you not to tell me how to parent my children, Mr. 'I'm-Never-Having-Kids.' If you change your mind and do end up becoming a father, then we can discuss parenting methods, but until then, keep it to yourself and let me do things my way."

"Buuuuuuuurn," Shilo said, and everyone except Graverobber laughed.  
"Wha—Whose side are you on?!" he demanded.

"At the moment?" she replied, flashing an innocent smile and batting her eyelashes at him, which only made everyone else laugh even harder. "AAAAAnywaaaay," she said, turning to Natalie. "We were talking last night, and we realized that we're gonna need more clothes than what we were able to bring. There wouldn't happen to be, like, a thrift store or anything around here that we could go to, would there?"

"There is, actually," Natalie said. "I'd be happy to give you directions, but you have to do something for me in return."  
"Whatever it is, the answer is no," Graverobber said. Shilo whacked him on the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Sure," she said, "what is it?"  
"You're gonna regret it, kid!"

Natalie pointed at her son. "Take him with you. I need him out of the house for a while. It's not even nine, and he's already managed to drive me crazy."

"We can absolutely do that," Shilo said.  
"Oh, thank you so much. Here, give me just a minute and I'll write down those directions."

She got up and went to go find a pad of paper and something to write with, leaving Graverobber rubbing the place where Shilo had whacked him and giving her a look that said, _Seriously? What the hell was that for?! _She simply shrugged in response to it.

"You two certainly have an interesting dynamic going on between you," Zack commented.  
"Yeah, so we've been told," Graverobber said. "It probably has something to do with the fact that we were best friends before we became a couple."

"We still are best friends," Shilo chimed in. "It's just that now, we also happen to be dating."  
"Which is a term I would use loosely, seeing how we haven't actually gone on any dates," Graverobber added.

"Oh, potato, potahto," Shilo said with a shrug.  
Zack laughed. "I like her," he said. "I'd say you found a keeper, Allan."

"Yeah," Graverobber agreed, "I think so, too."

"Here you go," Natalie said as she returned with a piece of paper and handed it to Shilo. "Dylan was good friends with the manager. Tell him I sent you, maybe you'll get a discount. Kyle, run and go get dressed real quick, alright? Uncle Allan and Shilo are gonna take you out of the house for a while. And wear a jacket, it's chilly outside!"

* * *

"Uncle Allan?" Kyle said from the backseat of the truck.  
"What's up?" Graverobber asked.

"How come you have all those colors in your hair?"  
"Because I'm weird and I just like it better with them than without."

"Oh. How come Shilo has red in hers?"  
"She likes the way it looks, same as me."

"Turn left up here," Shilo said.  
"God, this reminds me of when I took you to 'Ranth's place and you got that dress. That thing looked amazing on you, I wish you'd brought it along."

"Who says I didn't?"  
"Did you?"  
"No, but I could've."  
"Why didn't you?"  
She shrugged.

"What's it like on Sanitarium Island?" Kyle asked suddenly.

Shilo and Graverobber looked at each other.

"It's...different," Graverobber said finally. "Very different from here. You know how people get their organs repossessed sometimes? Well, that happens a lot more often on Sanitarium. And people get surgery a lot more often and do much crazier things than you're used to seeing. A good example would be these three girls who worked at this diner that Shilo and I liked to go to. One of them had blue hair, and another had green hair, and the other had purple eyes. But there are a lot of other people on the island that have even crazier things than that done. Your mom's never told you any of this before?"

"Mom doesn't like to talk about Sanitarium. She says it was a nightmare."  
"Yeah, well...that's one way of putting it."

"Hang right," Shilo said. To Kyle, she said, "And another thing about Sanitarium is that the graveyards are really different from what they are here."

The ten-year-old tilted his head to the side curiously. "The graveyards?" he said. "How are they different? Aren't they still used to bury people?"

"Yeah, of course they are," Graverobber said, "it's just...Okay, you can't tell your mom that we told you this, alright? I'd probably get in big trouble if she knew. But the graveyards are different because not all of them are outside. See, what happened was the outside graveyards got so full, and there were getting to be so many of them, that there started to be not enough room to bury everyone. So what they did was they started building these indoor graveyards. They're basically these big buildings, and the inside of them are made to look like outdoor graveyards, and people are buried in them just like in outdoor graveyards, but everything is inside. Shilo's mom is buried in an indoor graveyard."

"She is?" Kyle asked, turning to Shilo.  
"Yep," Shilo said. "I used to go to her crypt with my dad when I was a little girl to give her flowers. There was a portrait of her hanging on the back wall."

"What's a crypt?"  
"A crypt is like a stone house that's in a graveyard that you put someone's ashes or coffin in," Graverobber explained. "Usually family members share one. In fact, my mom and dad, your grandparents, they're buried in a crypt together somewhere on the island."

"Oh!" Shilo cried. "Right here, turn into this parking lot!"  
"I got it, I got it," Graverobber said. "Oh, hey, look at that, it's a consignment store. Perfect, that's right up our alley."

Shilo snickered at the irony of the phrase "our alley," and Graverobber flashed a lopsided grin at her that seemed to convey he had worded it that way on purpose.

"Alright, Kyle," Graverobber said as he parked the truck and shut off the engine. "You remember the rules your mom gave you?"  
"Don't act all hyper, always stay with you or Shilo, I'm not getting any toys, don't be loud, and don't climb on the shelves and stuff," Kyle said.

"Exactly. Alright, unbuckle and then stay where you are, it's a big step down, so I'm gonna come back there and help you get out. Shi, you okay getting down on your own?"

"I'm a big girl, Allan, I think I can handle getting out of a truck without breaking my ankle," Shilo replied sarcastically, and then opened her door and did exactly that. Kyle snickered behind his hand. Graverobber rolled his eyes, then got out and opened the back door, helping his nephew get down from the cab of the truck.

When they got into the store, Graverobber's eyebrows went up. "Wow," he said. "It looks smaller from the outside."  
"It's bigger on the inside," Shilo said. Kyle laughed, but Graverobber only looked at them in confusion.

"What?" he asked. "What's so funny? I feel like I'm missing something here."  
"It's bigger on the inside," Shilo repeated. "Haven't you ever watched Doctor Who?"

"...Is it bad if I say no?"  
Shilo rolled her eyes as Kyle continued to laugh.

"Kyle Morrison, is that you?" a voice asked. A man somewhere around Natalie's age was approaching them. He had reddish-blond hair that was receding, and gray eyes with a kind look in them, and he was smiling at Kyle.

"Hi, Mr. Clark!" Kyle said.  
"You've grown since the last time I saw you," Mr. Clark said. "Where's your mom?"  
"She's at home with Ro. This is my uncle, he came here all the way from Sanitarium Island."

"Ah, so you're Natalie's famous little brother. It's nice to meet you, I'm Ryan Clark, I went to high school with your sister's husband."  
Graverobber shook the offered hand. "Nice to meet you, too," he said. "I'm Allan, this is my girlfriend Shilo. Natalie asked us to bring Kyle with us because she needed him out of the house."

"Kyle, were you getting on your mom's nerves again?"  
"Not on purpose!" Kyle protested.

Mr. Clark laughed. "So, what can I do for you?" he asked.  
"We had to leave Sanitarium in kind of a rush," Shilo explained, "and we weren't able to bring very much with us, so probably sooner rather than later, we're going to end up running out of clothes, and we figured it would be better to take care of that before it became a problem, so Natalie gave us directions over here, and now here we are."

"Well, as long as you don't mind secondhand things, then I can definitely help you out."  
"Back on the island, most of her clothes came from a thrift store that a friend of ours owned, so we're definitely alright with secondhand," Graverobber said.

"In that case, welcome to the utopia of secondhand clothes."

So for a while, they wandered around browsing through things and finding all sorts of interesting things that didn't just include clothes. At one point, Graverobber called Shilo over to where he was, and when she went to see what he wanted to show her, he held up a pair of neon blue tights, a huge grin on his face. Her initial reaction was, "Oh my God," and then after that, they both said at the same time, "They're Zydrate colored!" before bursting into laughter.

They agreed that she couldn't leave without them.

Not wanting to be left out, Kyle also helped look for things, and he discovered a belt buckle made to look like a cockroach, which he eagerly presented to Graverobber, insisting that he needed to buy it, and Graverobber laughed, agreeing that it _was _pretty cool, so he decided that to hell with it, Kyle was right, he needed something like that, so he'd go ahead and get it. Shilo also found a pair of black leather round-toed lace up boots that went midway up her calves and were reminiscent of Victorian coal mill boots in style, and she decided to get those so that she'd have more than one pair of shoes to choose from.

"I'd say that was a pretty successful trip," Shilo said as they were leaving.  
"Promise me you'll wear those tights tomorrow," Graverobber replied. "I can't wait to see what they look like on you."

"I promise," she said laughingly. "Hm...I wonder what I should wear them with?"  
"You brought that pleated leather miniskirt that you wore on your birthday, right? Why not wear them with that?"

"That's a good idea, but then that still leaves the question of which top to wear."  
"You'll figure it out," he said as he helped Kyle climb into the truck.

He sighed as he put his seatbelt on and stuck the key in the ignition. Shilo looked over at him. "What's wrong?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing," he said, "I was just thinking about this whole Zack situation, that's all."  
"Stop worrying about it," she said, reaching across the space between them and putting a hand on his knee. "You did fine earlier. If you ask me, you were freaking out for nothing. I mean, I don't know the entire story or what reasons you have for feeling the way you do about it, but just from what I saw, that's my take on it. Seriously, I mean you handled things beautifully. No differently than you would have otherwise."

"Uncle Allan?" Kyle said. "Do you not like Zack?"  
Graverobber twisted around to look at his nephew and blinked. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

Kyle shrugged.  
Graverobber sighed heavily.

"It's...It's hard to explain," he said. "When your mom and I were kids, Zack and our dad argued about some stuff, and there were certain things that Zack said and did that just...Look, Kyle, as much as I hate having to say this sort of thing and be one of 'those' kinds of grown-ups, this is one of those times when the only thing I can really say that'll make sense to you is that you'll understand when you're older. And it's not that I don't like Zack, it's just that...I haven't seen him since I was younger than you are now, so it's been a really long time, and I just...He's probably changed a lot since then, because I know I have. So he's not really the Zack that I remember, and that makes it kind of hard for me."

"So he's Zack, but he's not Zack?"  
"Kind of. That's one way to look at it."

"I think a good way to explain it," Shilo said, "would be to say that it's like they're meeting each other for the first time all over again."  
"Exactly," Graverobber agreed. "That's perfect. She's right, it's like I'm meeting Zack for the first time all over again. And it...it's weird for me. And I'm sure that it's weird for him, too."

For a moment, he just sat there staring blankly at nothing. Shilo gently touched his shoulder. "Allan," she said softly. "Graves. Are you alri—"

"Yeah," he said abruptly. "I'm fine. Let's get back before Natalie starts to think we ran off or something."

* * *

**I have a younger brother, so trust me, I know from experience what ten-year-old boys can be like. In fact, I'm not saying he is, and I'm not saying he isn't, but Kyle might be a little bit influenced by what my brother was like at age ten. And I seriously did find a pair of neon blue tights online the other day when I was Google image searching various clothing items in a few different styles to give myself an idea of things that Shilo might wear, and somehow that got included in the results for something, and I went, "HOLY SHIT, ZYDRATE BLUE TIGHTS FUCK YES BITCH" and thus they got included in this chapter and you bet your ass she will be wearing them in future chapters because they're FUCKING ZYDRATE FUCKING BLUE and that should be the only excuse needed, so there.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay short chapter, but essential to the plot, and consisting of exactly three things: Fluff, a bit of angst, and DR-AMAAAAAAA!**

* * *

When Shilo opened her eyes the next morning, it was still dark outside. She looked around for a moment, then laid her head back down and closed her eyes to try and go back to sleep for a few more hours. But then something clicked together in her sleep-addled mind, and her eyes opened a second time. She sat up in bed and stared at the empty space beside her in confusion, then got up and poked her head into the bathroom. "Allan?" she called softly. All she got in response was silence.

Rubbing what she called "sleep-crust" away from her eyes, she silently crept into the hallway, gently closing the bedroom door behind herself, her bare feet pattering quietly against the hardwood floor as she made her way towards the stairs. When she got into the living room, she paused, but, upon finding no trace of him, looked in the kitchen, which was equally empty, and just as dark as the rest of the house.

That left only one place that she could think of.

Shilo tip-toed out the front door, silently closing the screen door behind herself. She looked around, then finally saw him sitting on top of the porch railing, his bare feet dangling just above the half-dead bushes. Half of his hair was in a loose half-braid hanging over his shoulder, and he was currently in the process of doing the same thing to the other half. She went over and climbed onto the railing beside him.

"Hey."  
"Hey."

"You okay?"  
"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, let's see...It's still dark out, you're fully dressed and sitting out here by yourself braiding your hair, and you didn't even look up when I sat down next to you just now. I think I know you well enough to tell when something's not right, and based on all that, I'd say there's definitely something that's bothering you."

He didn't respond, instead just taking the hairband he had around his wrist and using it to tie off the finished braid.

"Is it the Zack thing?" she asked quietly. He closed his eyes tightly, turning his head slightly away from her, fingers curling to form a fist for one brief second. He sighed through his nostrils and shook his head.

"You don't understand," he said. "Natalie thinks she does, but she doesn't."  
"I want to understand. Help me try to. Please? Tell me what it is about this that's got you this way."

For a moment or so, he just sat there.

"I'm not," he said finally, "everything that people cracked me up to be on Sanitarium. I'm not some...some wild and fearless madman with a big 'fuck-this-fuck-that-fuck-you-fuck-the-air-fuck-the-sky-fuck-the-world-fuck-everything' attitude. I never was, never have been, and I probably never will be. You know what I am, Shilo? I'm scared. I'm fucking terrified, and behind my stupid tough guy act, that's exactly what I've always been. I had to grow up fast when my mom died, I basically had to give up the very essence of being a teenager, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have survived. So I never got to have my teenage years the way most people did, I never got to enjoy them like I should've, because I had to go from thirteen to thirty-five—" he snapped "—just like that. I had no choice. It was the only way I was able to stay alive. You know why I look ten years older than I really am? It's because of all the stress I've been through in life. It's aged me. Not just physically, but emotionally. And sometimes I think even mentally. And where exactly does Zack fit into all of it, you ask?"

He sighed heavily and shook his head.

"When I was a little kid, I looked up to him more than anyone in the world. I all but worshipped the very ground he walked on. I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. He was my hero. Spiderman and Batman and Iron Man and Superman—Pfft. No. Screw them. I had Uncle Zack, and he was better than all of them put together. My dad was an alcoholic, that's what you have to understand. He wasn't one of those drunks that got pissed off over the smallest things and beat us all up, he was just one of those that'd just...pass out on the couch with his bottle. He didn't exactly fill the role of dad very well. But I was okay with it. I didn't mind the fact that I didn't really have a dad in the traditional sense, because I had Zack, and he filled that role, instead. My dad was his younger brother. He—Zack, that is—He was always really heavily involved in mine and Natalie's lives."

"But that didn't last, did it?" Shilo asked.  
He shook his head. "No," he said, "it didn't."

"What happened?"

There was a long pause.

"I'll never forget it," he said quietly. "It was in 2041. The thirtieth of July. I remember that because my birthday is July twenty-third, so I had just turned five only seven days before it happened. I remember being upstairs in my room messing with something I'd gotten for my birthday, and then all of a sudden, out of absolutely nowhere, I hear my dad shout at the top of his lungs, 'God dammit, Zachary, they're not your kids!' And then I heard Zack say something I couldn't hear all of, but the basic gist of it was something about me and Natalie and Dad's drinking. My mom wasn't home when this happened. Who knows how it would've gone if she had been? I don't remember where she was. Anyway...Zack and Dad got into this enormous argument, and I remember that I wanted to go downstairs so badly and find out what was happening, but at the same time, they were yelling at the top of their lungs, and I was scared that if I went down there, I would get in trouble and then they'd be yelling at me instead of each other, so I just quietly crept out of my room and crouched down at the top of the stairs where I was hidden and listened. It got real ugly. One of them hit the other, and to this day, I'm still not entirely sure who it was that got hit. In the end, Zack finally said, 'Fine! If that's how you're going to act about it, then whatever! Be a complete ass for all I care, treat your family like shit, I don't give a fuck anymore, I'm done with you and your bullshit, Andrew, goodbye and good riddance!'"

"...And then what?"

"And that was it. He left, he slammed the front door behind himself on the way out, and we never saw or heard from him again. He didn't even show up to Dad's funeral, and he didn't show up to Mom's, either. Dad got rid of all the pictures of him, we never spoke of him again, and after a while, it was almost like he'd never even existed. I thought I would be able to go on for the rest of my life pretending that he never did. That's what I wanted to do. I would've been perfectly happy to keep on like that until I died. But now I can't. And there's so much I want to say to him, but I don't know how to say any of it, and at the same time, I feel like he doesn't even deserve to know how I feel, because he just fucking _abandoned _us. He knew how much he meant to me, and he just up and left like none of it even mattered. And it tore me apart. Part of me has always blamed him for the fact that I had to grow up so fast, because if he had just showed up after Mom's funeral, then I would've had someone. He was my next of kin, guardianship over me and my siblings was supposed to fall to him, and he never showed up to claim us. He just...left us on the streets by ourselves. Then Natalie disappeared, and Nick and Jem and I split up after about a month and didn't reconvene with each other until nearly two years later, after Dixie had already taken me under her wing and started teaching me.

Shilo was silent as she absorbed everything he'd told her. "So...you resent him for not being there when you needed him," she said finally. Graverobber nodded slowly, his eyes moist with unshed tears and rimmed with red.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Yeah, I guess that's what this is. Because...really...when you get right down to it...it's easy to say that I wouldn't have turned out the way I did if Zack had just showed up to claim us."

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Shilo."  
"Sorry for what?"

"That I'm not...That I've lied to you. About myself, about who and what I really am. This entire time, I've been making out like I'm confident and in control of everything and so sure of who I am and what I want in life, when the truth is just the opposite. I'm scared, and...Hell, I've never even been in a steady relationship before now, you're the first girl I've ever referred to as my girlfriend, I'm going about things with you completely blind and terrified of fucking u—"

She threw her arms around his neck, cutting him off with a kiss. She kept it going for as long as she could, making it the type of kiss that was slow and gentle, trying to pour all of her feelings for him into it so he would know just how much she cared about him, not just as her boyfriend, but as her friend, too.

When they separated, there were tears on his face.

"I didn't fall in love," she said, "with the man that you _could_ have been. I didn't fall in love with the man you _pretend _to be. I fell in love with the man that you _are. _You think I care that you've never done this relationship thing before? I don't. I've never done it either, remember? You may be going into it blindly, but so am I, and by God, we'll go into it blindly _together. _You're scared, but guess what? So am I. I've been scared every single day since the Genetic Opera, but dammit, you help. You help so much, and you don't even try. You help just by being part of my life, and now that you're in it, now that I have you...I don't ever wanna let you go."

"I don't wanna let you go, either," he whispered. "You're like an anchor for me. You ground me, you keep me in check, you keep things in perspective for me...I can't stand the thought of losing you, Shi. God, you're beautiful. You're so Goddamn beautiful, you know that? You've got the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen, and when your hair grows out, I swear, it's going to be so fucking soft."

"You don't know that," she said with a laugh.  
"No, but you know what I _do_ know is soft?"

"What's that?"  
"Your lips."

They both smiled, and then he closed the small distance between them.

* * *

"Bam," Shilo said, lifting her leg and planting her foot on the arm of the chair that Graverobber was sitting in. "Zydrate blue tights, as requested."

He looked her up and down as she stood there grinning with her hands on her hips. She was wearing a black t-shirt that had a punk look to it with slits on the shoulders of the sleeves and on the upper part of the chest, her black pleated leather miniskirt, the midcalf boots that she'd gotten the day before, and, sure enough, the Zydrate blue tights, which provided a nice splash of color to her otherwise all-black outfit. He grinned at her.

"My _God, _you've got amazing legs," he said.  
"And I have to say, you don't look half bad with those braids," she replied.  
"Are you kidding," Natalie said as she entered the room, "he looks like an old Native American cheif or something."

"Well, I think it's kinda sexy."  
Graverobber pointed at Shilo. "Hers is the only opinion that really matters to me, and if she says I look sexy, I'm keepin' 'em, simple as that," he said, and then popped a chip into his mouth.

"Who's keeping what?" Zack asked, rubbing his eyes as he came in. Graverobber glanced at his uncle briefly, then averted his gaze and continued eating his chips. Shilo wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and leaned forward enough to whisper in his ear.

"You alright?" she asked. He nodded subtly enough that nobody but she noticed. "Remember what we talked about earlier. It's okay, you can do this. Just go on and get it over with. Like ripping a band-aid off, right? And no matter what happens, I've got your back. Partners-in-crime."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, silently preparing himself for what he was about to do.

"Hey, Zack?" he said. "Can we go upstairs? I've got something I wanna talk to you about in private."

Zack blinked. "Uh...Yeah, sure. Lead the way."  
Graverobber stood up and handed his bowl of chips to Shilo, who took over the chair he had just vacated. He led Zack upstairs and down the hall to the room where he and Shilo were staying, closing the door behind them for privacy.

"What's this about?" Zack asked.

Graverobber didn't answer right away, trying to find the right words first.

"Thirtieth of July," he said finally, "2041. You remember?"  
"I, um...2041, wow, that was...that was a long time ago."  
"Fifteen years, to be exact. Do remember it, or not?"  
"No, I...I can't say that I do. Should I?"

"I do. I remember it as clearly as I remember yesterday afternoon. It was seven days after my fifth birthday. It was the last time I ever saw you. Starting to remember it yet?"

"...I...Allan, I—"

"I heard you and Dad arguing. Yelling at each other. I wanted to go down and see what was happening, but I also didn't want either of you to start yelling at me, so you know what I did? I hid at the top of the stairs and listened. And you guys both said some real ugly stuff, I'm not saying either one of you was any less guilty than the other when it came to that, but you know what's really stayed with me all these years? What you said on your way out. It was the last thing I ever heard you say. You called my dad an ass, said that he treated me and Natalie and Mom like shit, that you were done putting up with his bullshit and didn't give a fuck anymore. You told him, 'goodbye and good riddance.' And then you were just gone. You never came back, never sent another note, another birthday card, nothing. Dad got rid of every picture in the house that had you in it, and over time, it was almost like you never even existed."

"Allan—"

"I'm not done yet. You know what the worst part for me was? I was five. I was five years old, and I _worshipped _you. I didn't need Iron Man or Batman. Why would I when I had my Uncle Zack, right? Wrong. Because if it had been Iron Man or fucking Batman, then maybe I wouldn't have lost the biggest role model I had in my life. Do you have _any _idea how much I looked up to you, Zack? Any idea at all? And you...You just abandoned us. You didn't even show up to your own brother's funeral! After Mom died, Nat and Nick and Jem and I, we had _no one! _Do you know who was supposed to be our guardian? Who was _legally _supposed to come and provide us with a parental figure? _You! _And you know what happened? You _didn't. Fucking. Show."_

"I didn't know either of them had—"

"Let me finish, dammit! I was thirteen. When I needed you around the most, you weren't there for me. You weren't there when I became a pickpocket just so I could survive. You weren't there when my sister vanished and my brother and godsister and I split up from each other. You weren't there when I ended up becoming a Zydrate dealing graverobber at age fifteen. Oh, does that shock you? Yeah, well guess what, that 'entrepreneurial type stuff' that Shilo and I were doing on Sanitarium? _That's _what it was. I was teaching her how to be a graverobber, and we were selling street Zydrate in the back alleys. You know when else you weren't there? When they started putting up wanted posters all over the damn city with my face on them offering a reward for my arrest! Or how about the time when I walked into an alley where a Repo was slicing up a victim, and I barely escaped with my life?! You wanna see the fucking scar?! It's there, it's on my chest, you should've seen how fucking ugly it was when it was fresh!

"I had to grow up faster than anyone should ever have to! I was forced to miss out on all the fun of being a teenager, because I had to go from thirteen to thirty-five in a fucking day, and look at my Goddamn face! I'm twenty _fucking _years old, and I look like I'm thirty, and you know why?! Because of all the motherfucking stress I've been through, that's why! I act all high-and-mighty, confident, like I know who I am and what I want, so sure of myself, like I'm in control of every situation, but you know something?! It's not true! None of it is true! I'm a fucking coward! I've never even been in a steady relationship before now, Shilo is the first girl in my life that I've ever referred to as my girlfriend, all the others have just been meaningless flirtations and one-night stands! She's making me strong in ways that I never have been before, and you know what?! Maybe if you had actually showed up to claim us, I wouldn't be the way I am!

"So _fuck _you, you son of a bitch! Fuck you, and I hope you rot and burn in hell with the Largos, and if, God forbid, anything ever happens to Natalie, then guess what?! I'm gonna be there for her kids the way you never were for us! If I have to, I am going to drop everything, and I am going to go wherever the _hell _I have to go to get those kids, and I am going to be _the_ best Goddamn uncle they could ever ask for! I'm going to be the uncle that you never were! Because Natalie may have turned out alright despite everything, but I sure as fuck didn't, and I already know that I'm going to hell, alright, my soul's been damned for a _really _longass time, but I'll be double-damned if I let the same thing that happened to me happen to Kyle or Rosella! You know why?! Because I _care _about them! More than you ever cared for us, that's for damn sure! So again, _fuck _you, Zachary! _Fuck _you!"

He whirled around, leaving the room and slamming the door behind himself on the way out. He went downstairs and left the house without once looking at anyone or saying a thing. Shilo got up and went racing after him.

"So? How'd it go?" she asked. "Did you say what you wanted to?"  
"Bet your ass I did," he said. "He never saw it comin', just threw it out."

"Natalie and I heard you yelling."  
"Yep. Told him off pretty good."

"So what now?"  
"Now? You and me go find a bar and get wasted."

* * *

**Okay, so I realize that a "loose half-braid" might be kind of a weird description and hard to imagine, but don't worry, because there is a specific image I found online that inspired that, so I'm going to link to it on my profile so that you can see what I mean by "loose half-braid" and get an idea of what that looks like, because trust me, you're going to want to know what it looks like since he'll be wearing his hair like that more frequently from now on. (Why, you ask? Because Shilo said she thinks it's kinda sexy, and that's the only reason he needs for anything, lol)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Oooooooh mah gaw, I am SO sorry about the wait on this, I just...ugh. I've had a lot going on, so, yeah. Anyway, I had someone ask about the playlist, and since they were a guest reviewer, I can't PM them the songs, so what I'm going to do instead is just list them and their artists at the end of the chapter, and anyone who wants to can look at that list, and anyone who doesn't can just ignore it. Be aware that there are 55 songs on the list, though, so...yeah. Anyway, as usual, I own absolutely nothing, blah blah blah, you know the drill...  
**

**Also, see if you can find the Team Starkid reference in the first paragraph. It's a reference to one of my favorite songs from their musical "Starship," and the song is sung by the bad guy(s) and there's a reprise of it in the second act. Like I said, see if you catch it. :)**

* * *

Graverobber and Shilo stayed away from the house the entire rest of the day, and even with all that time to cool off, Graverobber still didn't think he could go back after what had happened. So when the time came, they went and found a motel to stay in for the night. And it was while they were there, laying on the bed with their shoes off but still fully clothed and their hands wandering across each other's bodies while Graverobber planted kisses up and down her neck, that Shilo decided she was ready to kick things up a notch. When she said as much to Graverobber, he stared at her for a moment, then asked if she was sure, to which she replied that the only other thing she'd ever been so sure about in her life was that she loved him.

And so he made it absolutely fantastic for her.

When they woke up the next morning, neither one of them wanted to get out of bed, preferring to instead just lay there in each other's arms all day with Shilo's head resting on Graverobber's chest while he traced lazy patterns on her back. Unfortunately, though, it seemed that Graverobber's phone had other ideas, because they had only been awake for about ten or fifteen minutes before it started buzzing on the nightstand. He sighed heavily as he reached over and grabbed it, then groaned when he saw the name on the caller ID.

"God dammit," he said, "I should've known Natalie would call sooner or later. Stupid bitch just can't leave well enough alone, can she?"  
"Oh, cut her some slack, dude," Shilo told him. "She's probably just worried because we never showed up at the house last night, that's all."

Graverobber sighed again, then hit accept.

"Hey, Na—" He never got the chance to finish.

_"WHAT THE HELL, TERRANCE?! You can't just pull a stunt like that and expect everything to be fine! What was the big idea, tearing into Zack like that yesterday and then just storming out of the house?! And why didn't you ever come back, did you and Shilo take off or something?! I sure as hell hope not, 'cause you left all your shit here, and let me tell you somethin', pal, I ain't holdin' onto it for ya, I'll just throw it all out, including that stupid book that you love so much! Dammit, Terrance, it was fifteen years ago, get over yourself and move the hell on already! Where the hell are you right now?!"_

"We're at a motel," Graverobber said, keeping his voice as calm as he could manage. "We didn't take off, we're still in town, I just didn't feel like going back to the house quite yet, I wasn't sure I could face everyone. Look, I'm sorry that I upset everyone, but I had to get all of that off my chest, alright? I've been carrying it around for the past fifteen years, I don't think I'd ever be able to move on if I hadn't done what I did."

_"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," _Natalie said. _"Now listen to me. I am going to hand the phone to our uncle, and you are going to tell him how sorry you are, and you had better be sincere about it, or—"  
_"Why should I apologize," Graverobber interrupted, "for something that I don't even regret doing?"

There was a long stretch of silence, and in his head, Graverobber could easily picture Natalie with her eyes closed as she took a deep breath and slowly released it through her nostrils while silently counting down from ten. It was something he knew she did sometimes when she was trying hard not to lose her temper, a trick she had learned by seeing their father do it when he was starting to lose his patience with one of them, or with Nick.

_"Terrance," _she said finally, _"I am not asking, I am telling. You are going to apologize to Zack, and then you and Shilo are going to get both your asses back to this house before I hunt you down and drag you back kicking and screaming by the roots of your hair. Once you get back, we are all going to sit down and calmly discuss the issue like civilized adults without yelling at each other so we can try to sort things out. Do I make myself clear?"_

"What's clear," Graverobber replied, pushing himself into a sitting position, "is that, for one, you aren't in charge of me and can't tell me what to do or where to go, and that, for another thing, I'm not about to let my girlfriend get sucked into all this crazy drama and shit when she's already had enough of that sort of thing to last her a lifetime, and she doesn't need anymore of it, especially not from our fucked up family, so leave her the hell out of this, you hear me? And thirdly, don't bother putting Zack on the phone, let's just skip that part and go straight to the next step, shall we? Be there in twenty, goodbye."

And without giving Natalie a chance to reply, he hung up, then flopped back onto the mattress with a heavy sigh.  
Shilo turned over onto her stomach and raised herself up onto her elbows to look at him.

"Didn't go so well, I take it?" she said, though it was more of a statement than a question.  
He let out a humorless laugh without opening his eyes. "One way to put it," he muttered. "We're being _commanded_ to return."

"Then I guess we better get dressed, huh?"  
"Unfortunately. Wish we didn't have to, though."  
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, last night was..."

She trailed off, struggling to find the right words, and he opened his eyes as he lifted himself up to her eye level on his elbows, a devilish smirk on his face.

"You weren't so bad yourself, especially for a beginner," he said, his voice hitting one of its lower octaves.  
"Well, I, um...Like I've mentioned before, I figured out how to get around the parental locks when I was ten," she replied as a slight blush crept onto her cheeks, looking down and not meeting his eyes.

"Hey, Shilo?" he said. She looked up at him with wide eyes, and he cocked an eyebrow, grinning at her crookedly as he shook his head. "Don't be embarrassed, kid. I think it's hot."

She blinked, and he chuckled, then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. They stayed that way for a while, and might have kept it going longer if Graverobber's phone didn't decide to start buzzing again. When they pulled apart, their faces were flushed, and part of Shilo's bottom lip was a bit swollen where he'd lightly nipped at it. He looked at the phone with annoyance written all across his features, but that shifted into surprise when he saw who was calling.

"It's Jem," he said.  
"Answer it," she replied.

So he did, and then he put it on speaker.

"Hey," he said. "This is...unexpected. What's up?"  
_"Nothing's 'up,' Ter," _Jem said, _"why does something have to be 'up' for me to call you guys? I can't just call for the sake of calling and saying hey? How's everything going so far, what's the mainland like?"_

"Different," they said at the same time.

"Just...different," Shilo continued. "It's...It's kind of weird. You don't really see as many surgeries as you do on Sanitarium, or at least not as many obvious ones. The scarring must be really well hidden, or the SurGENS are better, or...something, I dunno. And you don't really see things like the exotic skin grafts and whacky corneas and shit that you see on the island. And it's...cleaner. I also haven't seen a single indoor graveyard the whole time we've been here."

"No bodies in the streets," Graverobber added, "so no need for the trucks. And I haven't really seen any propaganda posters, either. And as for your other question, well...Let's just say that I'm dealing with some demons from my past that have unexpectedly been brought to the surface after quite a long time."

There was a pause.

_"You got kind of quiet there," _Jem said finally. _"Is everything okay? What demons are you talking about, how can you possibly be dealing with demons from your past when you're in a place where nobody knows either of you?"_

Another pause.

"Jem," Graverobber said, "there's something I didn't tell you that I guess I should have quite a while ago. Something only Nick knew about. Natalie...she didn't actually disappear after the funerals. She ran off, then got in contact a while later, and we've been in communication on-and-off over the years. She settled on the mainland in a place called Cape Fear, got married, had two kids, and then her husband had something repossessed a while back. Anyway, we're staying with her. And...it turns out...she's also been in contact with Uncle Zack."

_"You mean Uncle Zack who...?"  
_"Yeah. That Uncle Zack. And he came to visit, so he's also staying at the house, and...I let all my anger and resentment at him build up over the years, and it came out yesterday. I went on this tirade, told him off, told him he belongs in hell with the Largos, all kinds of things, and then I stormed out of the house with Shilo following me, and we spent last night at a motel, and now Natalie's pissed off at me, and...Things are just...I'm making a mess, Jem. Just like I always do, no matter where I go or what I do with myself. Because as we all know, fucking things up is all I'm good for."

_"Oh, don't say that, Terrance! You're good for plenty of things! Like cracking stupid jokes and making bad puns, you're _really_ good at that, you and Nicky both! And snarky comebacks, and sass, and sarcasm, and kicking ass, and all sorts of other things!"_

Shilo wanted to agree with Jem, to say something reassuring and helpful, but she found herself unable to. Maybe because unlike Jem, she was actually sitting right next to the Graverobber, and could see the sad, hopeless look in his eyes. It made her think of a song that she'd heard once, a song that she realized now was so incredibly fitting for him, even though she wished otherwise. There was more than just sadness and a lack of hope in his eyes right then. There was also pain, confusion, and even fear and anger. It made him seem...vulnerable in a way she'd never seen before. In fact, it made her see him in almost a whole new light. It really drove home what he had said about everything being an act and how underneath the charade, he was at a total loss.

And it broke her heart.

Graverobber's shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. "Yeah," he said in response to something Jem had said. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Listen, we've gotta go. I told Nat we'd be back at the house soon, and she's already angry enough as it is, so..."

_"Yeah, no, I understand. Alright, well...I'll let you go, then. I love you guys."  
_"We love you, too, Jem. We'll call you back later once things have calmed down for us a bit."

_"Okay. Bye, guys."  
_"Bye, Jem," they chorused.

Graverobber let out another sigh as he ended the call. "Alright, kid," he said, "let's get this over with, shall we?"

* * *

When they got back to the house, the kids were already at school. Graverobber and Zack went upstairs to talk in private while Natalie and Shilo stayed downstairs in the living room. As soon as they were no longer able to see either of the men or hear their footsteps on the stairs, Natalie looked at Shilo. "Why?" she asked. Shilo turned to look at the older woman and gave a shrug.

"Why what?" she replied.  
"Why did you follow him out yesterday?"

"Why wouldn't I?"  
"He was acting like a child."

Shilo frowned.

"Okay, first of all," she said, "he's my boyfriend, and I don't have to agree with his choices to support them. And second, even if he didn't handle it in the most mature way, my understanding is that he had every right to be pissed at Zack."

"You don't even know what the history is between them."  
"Yeah, actually, I do. He told me. And forgive my bluntness here, but honestly, I can't help but wonder how it is that you don't also have some resentment for your uncle. What I took away from the story is that he was a pretty big part of your lives, and then he just...vanished. How could that not upset you?"  
"You think it didn't? First of all, I was always better at hiding my emotions than Allan. Second, there's this thing that people do called _getting over it and moving on. _Maybe that idiot boyfriend of yours should give it a try sometime, because I did it years ago, and guess what? It made my life a shitton better."

Shilo stood there smirking, arms crossed.

"What?" Natalie demanded. "What the hell are you looking at me like that for?"  
"Wow," Shilo said. "He wasn't fucking around with me. You really are a heartless bitch, aren't you?"

"Okay, no. You are not going to come into my house and call me names like that, do you understand me?"  
"He says you used to deliberately throw him down the stairs, is that true? Or what about that thing where you apparently tried to convince him that his first chest hair meant he was turning into a sasquatch?"

"You don't have any siblings, Shilo, you wouldn't—"  
"Don't try to feed me that bullshit, alright, he said himself that what was between you went beyond sibling rivalry. God, do you not have _any _remorse, are you seriously just that uncaring about your own brother?"

"Stop trying to guilt-trip me, dammit! Look, you might _think _you're really close and know him really well, but guess what? You're not, and you don't. You've known each other for what, a month? Two? You don't know the first damn thing about him _or _what his life was like growing up! You can pretend like you do all you want, but you don't, okay? The long and short of it is that you just fucking _don't. _Maybe come talk to me again after you've known him for ten, fifteen years, once you actually _know_ him. And really, what does he actually know about you, for that matter?"

_"Excuse_ me?"

"Yeah. I mean, for all he knows, you're just going to use him for God-knows-what, then leave him once you're done with him."

"I would never—"

"What? Leave him for another man? Like your mom left Rotti for your dad?"  
That brought Shilo up short. She tried to speak, but the sound got caught in her throat.

_I am not my mother, _she thought numbly. _I am not my mother. I am not my mother. I am NOT my mother.  
_Finally, she was able to force her locked joints back into functionality, turning and walking briskly towards the front door.  
"If you leave now," Natalie said, "don't bother coming back. You won't be welcome anymore, not after you had the nerve to call me a bitch in my own home."

But Shilo was deaf to everything, completely unaware of the world around her as she pulled the door open and went outside, heading down the street without looking back.

A few minutes later, Graverobber and Zack came back downstairs to find Natalie sitting in the living room with a glass of wine in her hand and music playing softly. Graverobber frowned as he looked around. "Where's Shilo?" he asked.

"She left," Natalie replied, "and she's not coming back."

"...What?"  
"I'm sorry, Allan. Trust me, though, it's for the best."

"You don't get to make that call," Graverobber said firmly, struggling not to let his emotions get the better of him so that he wouldn't end up having a total break down in front of his sister, because the last thing he wanted was for her to see him in a moment of weakness and vulnerability.

"You can do better," Natalie said without looking at him.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply through his nose. Next thing she knew, he was right in front of her, his hands on the arms of her chair, keeping her trapped there as he leaned in so close that the tips of their noses nearly touched, his blue eyes practically doubled in size and burning with fury.

"No, I can't," he said darkly, "and even if I could, I don't fucking _want _better. Now I don't know what the fuck happened down here while we weren't around, but I know that you had something to do with her leaving. I don't want the details, I don't need 'em to know it was your fault, I just want her back, and you're gonna tell me where she went so I can go and get her, you understand what I'm saying, Evil Queen?"

"Couldn't tell you even if I wanted to, baby bro," she said, "she was out the door without a word. Didn't even look at me."

Graverobber narrowed his eyes, then jerked away suddenly, turning and heading for the door.

"You'll never figure out which way she went," Natalie called, but she was ignored.

The Graverobber was on a mission, and he wouldn't rest until he got what he wanted.

* * *

**Okay, a few things about some of these songs/artists. First of all, anything with the name Madilyn Bailey next to it is not the original version, it is her cover of it, and they're pretty much all acoustic. I have Radioactive on here twice, the original version first and then later on there is a cover version of it, and the reason they're both on there is because they have different tones, one being wilder and more aggressive and the other being calmer and more tame, and I think both versions fit well for different reasons. Also, you will notice that yes, there are quite a few Adam Lambert songs on here, and that is simply because he is my favorite artist and I am very familiar with his work and I often find myself making connections between his lyrics and my various pairing ships, and Grilo is no exception to this. **

**And another thing, several songs up at the beginning of the list are from the various Twilight movie soundtracks, starting with the fourth song on the list down to the ninth. Just because they were on the Twilight soundtracks doesn't mean they aren't good songs, and it doesn't mean that I'm not able to connect them with things outside of Twilight, case in point being that this is a Grilo playlist. And yes, there are a couple of Sarah Brightman songs on here, which I felt was appropriate for a couple different reasons, one of which I'm sure is quite obvious. Also, yes, the Creature Feature song that you'll find towards the bottom of the list is supposed to be a stupid joke, that is the exact reason that I included it. **

**And while the first three songs on the list should need no explanation, if you have any questions about my reasons behind including a specific song, then please, feel free to ask me about it, and I'll be happy to explain it as best as I can. :)  
**

**So, anyway, here's the playlist:  
**

"Needle Through a Bug," Terrance Zdunich &amp; Alexa Vega  
"In All My Dreams I Drown," Terrance Zdunich &amp; Jessica Lowndes  
"Grace for Sale," Terrance Zdunich  
"Leave Out All the Rest," Linkin Park  
"Everything and Nothing," The Boom Circuits  
"All I've Ever Needed," Paul McDonald &amp; Nikki Reed  
"Cover Your Tracks," A Boy and His Kite  
"The Forgotten," Green Day  
"Where I Come From," Passion Pit  
"Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," Sarah Brightman (POTO OBC soundtrack, can be switched with the Sierra Boggess 25th anniversary version and/or the Emmy Rossum movie version if desired)  
"King of Anything," Sara Bareilles  
"I Stand," Idina Menzel  
"Wide Awake," Katy Perry  
"I'm Not Dead," Pink  
"Pearl," Katy Perry  
"Underneath," Adam Lambert  
"Learn to be Lonely," Minnie Driver (POTO movie soundtrack, song that plays during the credits)  
"Lightweight," Demi Lovato  
"Scars," Anna Nalick  
"Heavy In Your Arms," Florence + The Machine  
"Carry On Wayward Son," Kansas  
"Trespassing," Adam Lambert  
"Unnatural Selection," Muse  
"The Only Exception," Paramore  
"I Did it for You," David Cook  
"Right Here, With You," David Cook  
"No Boundaries," Adam Lambert  
"There Comes a Time," Celine Dion  
"Just The Way It Is," Adam Lambert  
"Climb," Adam Lambert  
"Better Than I Know Myself," Adam Lambert  
"Radioactive," Imagine Dragons  
"A World to Believe In," Celine Dion  
"Angel," Sarah Brightman  
"Black Is The Colour," Celtic Woman  
"Somewhere," Celtic Woman  
"You Raise Me Up," Josh Groban  
"Gorgeous," Idina Menzel  
"Brown Eyed Girl," Van Morrison  
"Demons," Imagine Dragons  
"human," Christina Perri  
"Just Give Me a Reason," Pink &amp; Nate Reuss  
"Home," Make This Place Your  
"I Won't Give Up," Madilyn Bailey  
"Radioactive," Madilyn Bailey  
"Wake Me Up," Madilyn Bailey  
"Behind Blue Eyes," Limp Bizkit  
"Grave Robber at Large," Creature Feature  
"Marry the Night, Glee Cast Version," Adam Lambert (though technically it's the Glee cast)  
"Mad World—Live at Glam Nation," Adam Lambert  
"One Day Like This," Sarah Brightman  
"Take Me to Church," Hozier  
"Titanium," Madilyn Bailey  
"For Your Entertainment," Adam Lambert  
"Second Chance," Shinedown

**Hope you're able to gather all of these songs together in one spot (I recommend doing so on Spotify, which is where I have it saved), and more importantly, I hope you enjoy listening to it. :)**


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